Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-08-30
Sightseers Trapped U p to 20 Hours
In Cable Car Accident FotoI to 6
continued From First Page

OOhGAhuCu EEOm EASG age
backwards, as if by the snap
of a whip.
They tipped over the support
rails at eros Rognon, derailed
and crashed to the rocks below.
The six victims were in two of
these three cabins. The other
cabin was unoccupied.
A group of three cabins i'm
fnediately above the break also
derailed but remained suspended
on the traction cable, one end
of which was trailing on the
glacier.
These and the other cars
hung immobile. A winch was
hurried into place and Alpine
reScuerS inched their way out
on the support cable to attach
lines to pull them to safety.
Through the night the cars
were drawn slowly and eau
tiously, to the lines terminals
or to points from which the
occupants could be lowered by
ropes to the glacier.
Pilot Lands Safely
The pilot of the plane, a Capt.
Ziegler of a French expert
mental jet squadron, landed his
damaged F-84F jet at his base
at Luxeuil, in Central France.
1t was impounded by civil in
vestigators.
The plane tipped over the
valley at well above the speed
of sound. No one reported &C
tually seeing it cut the traction
cable, but one Sightseer, Fran
els Blanchard, a Frenchman
with the International Labor
Organization at Geneva, said
he saw the plane performing
acrobatics just before.
, Officials we're thankful for
one circumstance in the bizarre
accident. After the three cab
ms derailed, the loose end of
the tow cable entangled in the
rollers of the way station tower.
This kept several other tourist
loaded cars from being cut
loose to roll backward on the
downhill side of the tower. Had
they done so, they, too, would
have derailed and crashed.
The cableline is strung be-
tween two peaks of 15,781-foot
Mont Blanc and stretches
miles between the 10,50O-foot
Aiguille du Midi on the French
side of the chaSm and the
Torino, slightly lower, on the
italian side. 1t makes a sharp
dip at the halfway mark, the
GroS Rognon.
Trip Normally Short
Tourists normally do the ride
in half an hour, dangling at
times 1000 feet above the gla-
cier. At eight points along the
way there are stopping points
where they can get out.
On this trip some of the
tourists spent 20 hours i'll the
tiny cabins. Most were dressed
in summer clothes. One pas
senger, an Indian woman from
London, had on a thin Sari and
gold slippers. Someone lent her
a pair of wool socks to nego-
tiate the glacier after she was
lowered from her stranded car.
Most of the Sightseers were
French, Italian or British, but
there were a few Americans.
Hugh Putnam, 20, of Milton,
Mass, and his cousin, Kath-
crime Blodgett, 10, of Grand
Rapids, Mich, were stranded
for Is hours. They got down
via a rope and took their or
deal cheerfully.
st was terrified at first" said
Miss Blodgett, "but then ]
quickly relaxed. We had an
American newspaper with us
and spent part of the time do
ing the crossword puzzle. ]
must confess that when dark
ness fell the puzzle was still
incomplete"
Our cabin was close to two
Others" young Putnam said,
And we were able to chat with
the people in them and that
helped to keep up our morale.
We could see people being
rescued slowly, one by one,
from the other cabins and
although we were a long way
away, we knew that our turn
would come sooner or later, SO
we just waited patiently"
When dawn was breaking
over the snoW-covered noun
tains, they we're let down by
ropes to the glacier.
Italian guides met them, gave
them brandy and Shepherded
them three-quarters of a mile
uphill through deep snow to
refuge near the Italian end OF
the line. A helicopter picked
them up a few hours later.
Mr.. Putnam said he was sur