Two days after Thursday’s cable car incident, and in response to reports published on the media and social networks that the operating license granted to the Lebanese Cable Car and Tourist Expansion Company SAL had expired at the end of 2022, the company in question asserted on Saturday that the license “will expire in April 2026.”
As for Thursday’s incident, the company explained in a statement that “when the mechanical breakdown was reported at the Haret Sakher fixed station, the administration quickly called on the Civil Defense to help its team rescue the people trapped in the cabins.” This was done “in accordance with international safety standards, in the presence of Lebanese Red Cross teams.” The Lebanese army also took part in the rescue operations, the company pointed out.
Regarding the technical breakdown of the rope way’s installations, the company said that “the final technical report has not yet been published, but initial indications show that it was a mechanical failure that occurred at the Haret Sakher fixed station, blocking it.” “This caused one of the cabins to stop, resulting with a collision between two cabins, which were empty,” it further added. When the breakdown occurred, “the automatic safety system was triggered, stopping operation on the line in question (the line linking the sanctuary of Notre-Dame de Harissa to Jounieh, editor’s note).”
Finally, the company pointed out that maintenance of the rope way is carried out periodically by a French company, Bureau Veritas-Halec, and another Lebanese company, ECM.
