No Human Casualties... "Power Outage Suspected as Cause"
At Muju Deogyusan Resort in Jeonbuk, a gondola connecting the resort and Seolcheonbong suddenly stopped. Over 300 passengers stranded in the air in the biting cold of minus 16 degrees Celsius were safely evacuated after about 30 minutes.
According to Yonhap News on the 9th, around 10:25 a.m., the gondola traveling back and forth between the resort and Deogyusan Seolcheonbong suddenly stopped. More than 300 passengers were stranded in the air for over 30 minutes.
The resort confirmed the accident and activated the emergency engine about 30 minutes later to evacuate the passengers.
The fire authorities received the report around 10:44 a.m. and dispatched emergency responders in preparation for cases of dizziness and hypothermia. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.
The fire authorities and the resort believe the gondola stopped due to a power outage caused by overload and are investigating the exact cause. They also plan to conduct a safety inspection. Because of this, operations ended early that day and are expected to resume once safety is confirmed.
At the time of the accident, the temperature at Muju Deogyusan Seolcheonbong, where snow had accumulated, was minus 16 degrees Celsius, and the wind was blowing strongly at 4.3 meters per second.
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