A serious emergency on line K of the metrocable was recorded this Wednesday morning at the Popular station: one of the cabins fell in the main square. Authorities initially reported one person dead and nine injured, four of them inside the cabin.
The accident occurred at 4:30 in the morning, when the system was just beginning service, apparently, because the cabin derailed. In addition, another cabin was at risk of falling, according to the first versions.
Personnel from the Medellín Fire Department went to the site to treat the injured, seven of them later transferred to hospitals and various healthcare centers. The other people were assessed on site.
Find out: Collision of metrocable cabins left no injuries
Medellín Metro personnel are on site attending to the emergency with the Line K system, which will be suspended indefinitely while the damage is being repaired and the corresponding investigations are being carried out.
In addition to the injured, More than 90 people were trapped inside the cabins, detained throughout the entire route between stations, At this time, work is being done to evacuate the cabins, according to official information.
The first hypotheses of this emergency would account for a collision between two cable cabinscausing one to fall, although this version remains to be confirmed by the Medellín Metro.
This is the first accident of this type that occurs on this metrocable line since it came into operation on August 7, 2004, being the first means of transportation of this type that provides commercial service for the country. Subsequently, the strategy was replicated in other cities in Colombia and around the world.
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On this cable line, the only thing that had happened of this severity occurred on March 25, 2017, when two cable cars collided with each other inside the Acevedo station; there were no injuries.
However, a problem had already occurred on January 7, 2020 when Line P, better known as Cable Picacho, was being built: The cable that supports the cabins fell and injured 10 people, all of them pedestrians passing by on the North Highway.
This situation will not generate inconveniences in the provision of Cable Arví, that connects with this Metrocable line, nor with the other cable lines that operate in the city, although the Medellín Metro will carry out reviews to avoid similar situations.
The mass transportation company reported that since the early hours of this Wednesday morning a contingency plan was activated to transport the inhabitants of the area, in which the Route C6-017 will modify its route and integrate the Acevedo and Santo Domingo stations.
