MADRID, March 16 (Xinhua) -- A group of people, aged between 60 to 70, had to be rescued by climbing down a system of ropes late on Wednesday following a failure in the cable cars taking visitors to the top of Mount Teide on Tenerife Island, Spanish media reported on Thursday.
A combination of Civil Guards, Fire Brigade, the Red Cross and Canary Island rescue services were used in the operation, which finished at around 8 p.m. local time on the cable cars.
For reasons as yet unknown, the system became blocked with the two cabins trapped around 400 meters from the top and bottom stations respectively and with the aid of rescue services the occupants were able to escape using a system of ropes.
Although the cabins were around 400 meters from the stations, the slope of the mountain meant they had to descend around 40 meters to the ground.
Meanwhile a further 200 people were trapped at the station situated close to the summit of Mount Teide and although some were able to make their way down on foot, some (elderly and those with children) needed to be evacuated by helicopter.
Others were forced to spend the night in a refuge on the mountain with the evacuation continuing on Thursday morning.
A group of 11 experts with knowledge of different languages were giving psychological help to any who needed it. Meanwhile medical services reported they only needed to give "minor assistance" to a small number of tourists.
