Hundreds of skiers trapped in gondola lifts in the French Alps, rescued after several hours

Lyon: Around 150 skiers in the French Alps were rescued after being trapped for several hours when their ski lift broke down on Sunday.The rescue operation lasted about two hours, Franck Lecoutre, head of the tourism office in the Chamrousse ski resort, near Grenoble, told AFP.[caption id="attachment_4274339" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. Reuters[/caption]"They will all be in time for Christmas Eve," he said, noting that no one had been hurt. The weather was clear for the rescue operation.The breakdown, whose cause was unknown, occurred around 1400 GMT on the ski lifts which link the resort of Chamrousse, located at 1,650 metres (5,400 feet) above sea level, with the summit of Croix Chamrousse at 2,250 metres. The weather was clear. The gondola cars run 25 meters (82 feet) above the ground.The incident affected 70 gondolas, each capable of carrying 10 people, rescuers said.The operation involved two helicopters, with rescuers lowered on top of the gondolas to help the trapped skiers descend to the slopes with the help of ropes, David Gendre, a member of the rescue team, told AFP.Violaine Demaret, the prefecture official told The Associated Press, that two civil security helicopters dropped rescue personnel over every car to open the roof hatches, release the skiers inside and lower them down to safety.The Croix de Chamrousse ski lift was set up in 2009 to replace a cable car and two chair lifts.With inputs from agencies