Daring High-Wire Rescue In New York

Commuting in New York City can be a lengthy process, but 11 hours?

What should have been a routine ride across the East River became an hours-long ordeal after what authorities described as a power failure left two cable cars carrying 69 people dangling hundreds of feet in the air.

Police responding to the incident on Tuesday night mounted a daring midair rescue, plucking passengers from the stranded cars using a diesel-powered rescue gondola capable of holding about 10 people at a time. All were rescued by 4:30 a.m. local time, after embarking on their trip about 5:15 p.m. the day before.

There were no injuries.

Police had delivered food, water and diapers to the passengers earlier. At least a dozen of those stranded in the tramcars were school-age children or babies.

"A lot of people were cheering us up when we were up there," 12-year-old Dax Maier told WCBS-TV after the rescue. "They were laughing, dancing. They were nice people. Sometimes there are nice people in New York."

Robbyn Maier said her son Dax was going to Roosevelt Island to play tennis when he got stuck. She talked to him by cell phone.

"He's like a trouper through it all," she said. "He's really a little hero."

Passengers tried to remain calm, reports

"We just stopped. that's it. The operator said he's going to seek some help. And here we are 2 hours later," reported passenger Alan Hirschhorn via his phone Tuesday evening.

Passengers in one of the dangling cars were plucked one by one and hoisted onto a gondola, while those in the second car were removed in an industrial crane and bucket, ten at a time.

"Being on there, I was fine," Elana Rothfeld told WCBS-AM's Peter Haskell (audio). "It was when I heard we were going to have to go on this little cage thing. Then I started getting a little nervous."

The cage was about the size of an SUV, reports Haskell.

"The way the platform was against the tram, it was just like stepping into an elevator car," said police Det. Mike Ryan.

The cause of the outage of the Roosevelt Island Tramway cars was not known, said Herb Berman, president of the agency that operates the system, which offer breathtaking views of the city from up to 250 feet high.

One of the tramcars had 46 passengers plus an operator, the other had 21 passengers and an operator, police said. Each car can hold about 125 people.

The tramway, which shuttles commuters and tourists between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island, has stalled before, but the backup system typically worked, reports Pinkston.

"This is a 30-year-old tram which obviously has some problems and we are going to make sure it doesn't go again until we take a careful review," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The tram system, which opened in 1976, is the only commuter cable car system in North America, according to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. Web site.

The system has been featured in such movies as "Spider-Man" and "City Slickers."

"There was more drama here than in some of the movies made on this tram," reports Haskell.

It travels 3,100 feet in about 5 minutes at an average speed of 16 mph, the Web site says.

Roosevelt Island, which lies in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, is about 2 miles long and 800 feet wide. About 10,000 people live on the island, which also is accessible by bridge and subway.