MURREE: Pakistan’s largest chairlift and cable car service was inactive for more than two hours on Wednesday, leaving dozens of tourists frightened and suspended thousands of metres in the air.

Hundreds of tourists were travelling via the chairlift and cable car service when the service stopped due to an electric failure. The alternative facilities, the back-up generator as well as the emergency engine, which allows those passengers still on the lift to return with zero speed, were out of order.

Sources stated that the service was also interrupted for more than an hour on Tuesday due to a fault in the generator.

When contacted, Patriata Chairlift Manager Raza Khan laid blame on the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) for fluctuations in the electric supply. He said that the back-up generator is only functional when the electric supply has been fully disconnected, but cannot work if the supply is fluctuating. He added that the generator is guided electronically and does not perform well in particularly humid conditions.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2015

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