Hong Kong cable car shuts after cabin plunge

Hong Kong cable car shuts after cabin plunge - 12 June 2007

HONG KONG: A cable car to one of Hong Kong's biggest tourist attractions, a giant statue of Buddha, has closed indefinitely after a cabin plunged 50 metres to the ground, officials said on Tuesday.

Authorities said they were investigating the cause of the accident, which occurred late Monday, an hour after the service shut for the night.

No one was injured, although the cabin narrowly missed a nearby road.

"We are very concerned," a government spokesman. "To ensure public safety, until the cause of the incident is known and we are certain that the cable car can operate safely, the government will not allow it to resume operation."

The Tian Tan Buddha is the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha and attracts around a million visitors a year.

The cable car, which traverses 5.7 kilometers (3.5 miles) of verdant hills on the island of Lantau, is part of a major tourist complex that also includes a theatre, shops and a traditional tea house.

It is the latest in a string of projects aimed at making Hong Kong into a top holiday destination.

The cable car cost one billion Hong Kong dollars (128 million US) to build and took two years to complete, but has been dogged by problems.

Its launch had to be postponed last summer after a breakdown during testing left 500 visitors stuck in cabins for two hours.

Seven senior staff at Skyrail, the Australian company behind the project, resigned shortly before the opening citing a lack of transparency.

Hong Kong has committed billions of dollars to develop tourism facilities, including a three-billion-US-dollar Disneyland resort.