Gondola passengers left hanging

Passengers were left hanging high above Queenstown for almost half an hour after a popular attraction malfunctioned.

A witness said a gondola at Skyline Queenstown was left with a smashed window after the incident, which happened about 5.45pm yesterday.

‘‘The doors on my gondola had just closed when I heard a huge crack, and one of the staff had to come and break the gondola open by kicking the emergency handle,’’ a local tour guide, who preferred not to named, said.

It was unclear what had caused the malfunction, but he believed two gondolas elsewhere on the cable could have crashed into each other.

‘‘They took down one of the gondolas, and then let it run for about five minutes to let people off and they stopped it again.’’

Skyline Queenstown duty manager Andras Balogh said he was unsure what had caused the malfunction, but said one of the gondolas may have come off the cable at the bottom station.

Passengers were stuck on the ride for about 25 minutes.

‘‘They started it on a slow ride and got the people out,’’ Balogh said.

‘‘It is not a safety issue, it will continue to run as normal.’’

At 6.30pm last night, Balogh said the gondola was operating again.

‘‘No one was panicked, I greeted the passengers at the top as they got off and everyone was fine.’’