Cable Car Emergency: 200 Skiers Winched Out

Two hundred holidaymakers needed a dramatic rescue after a cable car stopped working in hurricane-strength winds.

The skiers were suspended in mid-air for several hours after a tree fell on power lines in the Val Gardena resort in northern Italy.

A painstaking operation saw rescue teams lowered from a helicopter to each of the 20 cabins in turn.

Rescuers then forced open the cabin doors, tied those inside to ropes and lowered them slowly back to the snow.

All this had to be carried out in freezing temperatures and winds of up to 80mph.

"We were really lucky," one holidaymaker said.

"A staff member noticed the tree and stopped everything. They must build a monument to this gentleman because if the car had hit the tree we would have had a tragedy."

Remarkably, there were no injuries.