Probe starts into Ngong Ping 360 cable car plunge
HONG KONG – A high-level enquiry will probe the incident on Monday in which a cabin on the Ngong Ping 360 cable car system plunged 50 metres to the ground after becoming detached from the cable.
The incident was the first of its kind at the Lantau tourist attraction since the trouble-plagued cable car system began operation in September last year.
Ngong Ping 360 is operated by the Australian company, Skyrail. The system is likely to be closed during the investigation, which is expected to take about four weeks.
Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip Shu-kwan told the Hong Kong Standard the investigation would cover not only the mishap itself, but also the overall management and maintenance of the system.
“If it turns out to be a management problem, we’ll ask MTR Corp [which owns and operates the project] to do what it needs to do.
“We’re taking safety as our top priority. Unless and until the director is satisfied with the safety of the system, we’ll not allow the service to resume,” Ip said.
Cable car services at Tung Chung – which is linked to the famous Big Buddha by the system – have been ordered to be suspended indefinitely until it can be established what went wrong.
No one was injured in Monday evening’s incident in which the empty cable car crashed to the ground during a test run after operating hours.
Immediately after the crash, maintenance staff members were sent to each of the system’s supporting towers to examine if other cabins had plunged along the whole ropeway.
Investigators found some 10 gear wheels had been seriously damaged on the system where the cable car plunged.
The gear wheels, installed on the towers, are used to hook cable cars in place as they pass the towers.
Investigators are still trying to find out how these gears were damaged and whether the damage was related to the crash.
It takes 20 to 25 minutes to finish the 5.7-kilometer journey from Tung Chung to Ngong Ping.
Ian Jarrett
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