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NEED TO KNOW
- Fifteen people have been injured after a cable car suddenly came to a stop in San Francisco, with 12 being transported to the hospital following the Dec. 15 incident
- The San Francisco Fire Department said they received reports of passengers being “tossed around inside the cable car”
- “Everyone just flew in the air and started screaming,” a passenger told The San Francisco Chronicle
Fifteen people have been left injured after a cable car suddenly stopped in San Francisco.
On Monday, Dec. 15, the San Francisco Fire Department announced in a post on Facebook that they responded to a “cable car incident” at around 3:09 p.m. at the 1300 block of California Street between Leavenworth and Hyde.
“Initial report was that the cable car made an abrupt stop causing its passengers to be tossed around inside the cable car,” officials said.
“When units arrived onscene, they found numerous patients in need of care and a yellow alert was declared, a yellow alert notified our hospital partners and medical units of the potential for a large number of victims,” the post added.
A total of fifteen people were evaluated by first responders with two immediately being transported to hospital with “minor visual trauma.”
“Ten were complaining of bumps and bruising and three patients declined transport altogether,” the post continued. “Utilizing nine transport ambulances, patients were transported to San Francisco General Hospital, California Pacific Vaness, Saint Francis, Saint Mary’s and Kaiser.”
Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
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San Francisco Municipal Railway and the San Francisco Police Department Accident Unit are investigating the cause of the incident.
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Speaking to local media outlet The San Francisco Chronicle, one passenger recalled how the cable came to a halt while moving upwards.
“We were just on our way uphill and then it genuinely just like stopped really hard,” Willa Meade, 20, of San Francisco told the outlet. “It just stopped in its tracks like super fast.”
Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty
Meade added that “everyone just flew in the air and started screaming.”
One of the injured was a man who was “bleeding from his neck and head and shouting for help,” according to Meade.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency also shared a post on X following the incident.
“Safety for our passengers on all Muni vehicles continues to be our top priority. We’ll be conducting a full review of incident details to ensure continued safety on the cable cars,” they said.
The agency added, “Bus substitutions will serve the route for the rest of the day along with the 1 California line. For service updates, please monitor real-time alerts @SFMTA_Muni.”
