We Are Accidents Waiting To Happen

From today's South China Morning Post (subscription required):

Cable car closed after cabin plunges

Empty Skyrail gondola's 50-metre fall stuns experts and critics of the troubled ride

Ngong Ping 360 was closed indefinitely last night after an empty cable car plunged 50 metres onto a slope near the waterfront in Tung Chung in the worst accident since operations began less than a year ago. The crash happened just before 8pm, an hour after Hong Kong's latest tourist attraction was closed to the public. Skyrail-ITM, the operator of the cable car, said the cabin was "dislodged and found on the ground" during a series of tests conducted after operating hours. The cabin fell about 50 metres from a directional changing station on the 5.7km cable journey, landing upside down on the shrub-covered waterfront near Chek Lap Kok South Road. Stephen Ip Shu-kwan, secretary for Economic Development and Labour, said the government was concerned about the incident. It had ordered a halt to services and asked the MTR Corp to find out the cause of the accident and take all measures to ensure safety. The area is close to a roundabout, although it sees little traffic, and is accessible to pedestrians. The cabin, which was seriously damaged, was still lying in the shrubbery hours after the plunge. Its doors had fallen off and windows were broken. Skyrail staff examined the wreckage and looked for broken parts, which lay scattered across the site. Police and firemen went to the scene to search for anyone who may be trapped but no one was injured. The accident sparked an uproar among lawmakers who, along with the Tourism Board condemned the company for its poor performance since the cable car began operations on September 18. Engineers familiar with the design of cable cars described the accident as a "disaster" and "inconceivable", noting that emergency locks should automatically hold the cabin in place if the main lock failed.

This is the same cable car ride we took a few weeks ago on our way to see the Buddha and Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island that I wrote about here.

For the curious - the title of this post is taken from a lyric in the Radiohead song "There There."