Foreign and Romanian tourists injured in cable car accidents in Fagaras Mountains

Six people, including two foreign tourists and one child, were injured on Sunday when two of the cable cars carrying tourists between Balea Lake and Balea Waterfall in Fagaras Mountains in Romania had problems with the braking system, crashing into the boarding stations. The two cable cars were running in tandem, and both of them failed to brake, entering the boarding stations at high speeds. The people inside the cable cars fell over each other, and six of them were injured. Among the injured, there was also a tourist from Norway, and one from Hungary. Fortunately, all those injured in the accidents are in stable condition. The local police have opened a criminal investigation in this case, for bodily harm, the spokesperson of Sibiu County Police told local News.ro. They are currently waiting for the results of the investigation carried out by specialists, who are trying to find out why the cable cars weren’t able to brake. Meanwhile, the representatives of the private company managing the Balea cable car said that the installation has all the necessary approvals, and all the needed revisions were made. In January last year, the cable car that goes up to Balea Lake broke down, leaving 70 tourists stuck up the mountain at more than 2,000 meters for the night. The cable car is now the only means of transport to get to Balea Lake, as Romania’s famous high altitude road Transfagarasan, which crosses the mountain near the lake, is closed due to the snow. The road should be reopened for traffic on July 1. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo source: ISU SIBIU-Inspectoratul pt Situații de Urgentă "Cpt.Dumitru Croitoru" Sibiu on Facebook)