Posted on 04/18/2006 7:31:44 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
Two Roosevelt Island Tram cars carrying dozens of people over the East River were left hanging Tuesday when the system lost power due to a mechanical problem, officials say.
Rescue crews have begun the process of using cages and baskets to get the passengers off.
Both cars stopped moving around 5:15 p.m., stranding about 80 people, officials say. The tramcars were still stalled after 7 p.m. while engineers worked to restore power.
One of the tramcars had about 50 people, the other about 30. We are told that there are nine children on board. No injuries were reported.
Eyewitness News spoke to a woman on board one of the tram cars. She says they are asking rescuers to supply bottles for babies on board, as well as water for some of the elderly passengers.
Parents waiting on the Roosevelt Island side are anxious about the rescue. Eyewitness News reporter Lucy Yang spoke to a woman whose children are on board, trying to stay calm.
Shannon Sohn is in NewsCopter7 above the scene with late details.
One of the trams is stuck above the East River. It has made some movement. They did get some power back from their generator system and were able to move these trains just a little bit, but not quite enough.
Officials are telling Eyewitness News that they still have hope that they can get the back up generator working to get these people off the trams. If they can't do it in a timely fashion, police are setting up basket rescues. They are basically going to drag the baskets across the cables one at a time to take people off and bring them back across the cables.
The people have already been on board for nearly four hours so you can imagine it must be a tense situation up there.
The tram system, which opened in 1976 to carry Roosevelt Island residents to and from Manhattan, is the only commuter cable car system in North America, according to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.
Tramcars on the system stall occasionally, the last time around Labor Day.
Guess Ernie and Rosanna never watched CSI and heard about the rule of threes.Three minutes without oxygen; three days without water; three weeks without food. Seriously there is a report of a baby on board who requires a special formula.
Print media probably isn't getting too much because they're too busy laughing on the floor and holding their stomachs.
They just announced the "rescuers are gaining confidence after successfully bringing two adults and eight children" to safety. The bored cops are riding back and forth on an orange basket with "HO-HUM" plainly written across their faces.
An easy 98% of all skiing chairlifts are more exciting than this tram...stalled or not. Now they're asking bystanders who live on Roosevelt Island "if they'll ever be comfortable taking the tram" again.
They're even trying to get Mayor Bloomberg to comment! Family members just came downstairs at my house and we're all laughing at Fox5's intentional nail-biting coverage.
~ Blue Jays ~
What the heck is Bloomberg saying other than that he is there and is reviewing everything. Bloomberg said in the new conference it could take until early morning to get everyone down. My Gosh, what about potty! What about the little babies and the elderly. I think this could be a huge problem in the selection process. OH Boy. the Press will love this one.
Why are those "victims" waiting on the MTA bus to be debriefed? Once I was on the ground I'd be hailing a taxi to drive my butt home so I wasn't too tired for work tomorrow. What would the police do if someone refused to stay anyway, shoot them?
~ Blue Jays ~
What the heck is Bloomberg saying other than that he is there and is reviewing everything. Bloomberg said in the new conference it could take until early morning to get everyone down. My Gosh, what about potty! What about the little babies and the elderly. I think this could be a huge problem in the selection process. OH Boy. the Press will love this one.
I have the audio on our TV quite low[wife and kids asleep]
... quite comical , inDEPTH sidebar stories ,...
... I'm amazed they didn't dig up the little league stats on the stranded boy ,LOL!!
It's been 5 or so hours now. I'm sure the people on the tram have figured out a potty plan. These are Americans.
Maybe they're looking for Sly Stallone, Bill Dee Williams and Rutger Hauer. Seriously, did anybody think of the golden opportunity to decapitate NYC leadership tonight. Bloolie, Ray Kelly, the Fire Commish and the head of OEM all at the same location observing a rescue effort for a mechanical breakdown. It's probably nothing, but something doesn't feel right.
yup , I'm sure to NYPD boats below , in the East River , were advised to stay upwind ,LOL!
Yeah. I was just thinking cranky, cramped babies would probably be the hardest part about this.
"...Little League stats on the stranded boy..."
You're killing me!
As much as I would like to stick around for the hilarity, I'm going to eventually have to call it a night pretty soon. I wonder if Roseanne Scotto and Ernie Anastos are getting paid overtime for this silliness?
~ Blue Jays ~
ping
Sorry for the double entry. I'm thinking that it is going to be pretty cold up there.What I am wondering is where was all this media frenzy from the time this all started until it was NEWS TIME. Me think the channels on TV waited until the regular TV programs were finished.
This is good practice. Maybe they are just are watching for problems that might occur and how this system could be used in a real emergency. It doesn't have to be a tram.
Roosevelt Island is a strange place, so near NYC yet so isolated from NYC. However, the times I have been there it seemed to be a nice place with plenty of great and friendly people. Almost like in small town in the middle of Metropolis.
... [Ch7] Liz Cho , "the sway,from the breeze"
I actually like Ernie and Rosanna , but "wingin' it" for something like this is an odd situation ,...
... too grave and its jusy goofy , too schmaltzy, and we wonder why they're doing this WallToWall , preempting regular programs[?!!?]
Fox News just Interrupted an LA Police Chase for Breaking News on the stalled Tram. Apparently, Greta has a source who says that Natalee Holaway is on board.
Interviewing the daughter of a tram conductor now! They're beating on this story like it's a rented mule!
If we had known this story was going to get dragged-out like this, we could have made bets on when the news outlets would cease coverage for the evening.
~ Blue Jays ~
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