Tourists trapped on 3000m-high cable car share terrifying view of 3-hr failure

Haris Minhaj was stuck for three hours in Vietnam's highest Cable Car. Photo / TikTok; fully.fledged

An Australian traveller has documented a terrifying malfunction which left him trapped on one of the world’s tallest cable cars.

Haris Minhaj, 29 from Perth, was one of fifteen unlucky tourist trapped in the gondola car over Mount Fansipan, Vietnam.

At 3000m, it is one of the highest-altitude cable cars in the world, the 15 minute ride offers views over the remote Sapa region. However on this foggy June day, Minhaj and the travellers spent over 3 hours dangling in the Hoang Lien Son mountains.

In thick, alpine clouds there wasn’t even a view to enjoy.

The civic engineer from WA did have some concern about the structure, from which they dangled. The backpacker was worried for his safety. “Am I going to die?” he asked.

So naturally he began cracking jokes and filming the other passengers, trapped with him over Fansipan.

“We are in [one of] the highest cable cars in the world and we are now stuck,” he recorded to TikTok.

High in the cloud they couldn’t even see the other carriages.

When, two and a half hours later, the motors began to start up again - it was hard to tell if it was a relief to be moving, or the swaying was cause for concern. The cable car had to be run extra slowly on “backup” generators, due to the electrical fault.

“I’m fine with it. Just get me off,” said one of the other tourists.

Minhaj jokes that he would almost miss the bubble “after two-and-a-half hours of getting connected with with these guys.”

As the gondola station loomed out of the cloud the passengers erupted in applause.

“Guys we made it!” said one.

Talking to The Express, Minhaj said that they didn’t get a refund but they were offered an apology and a cup of tea.