Gondola malfunctions, trapping about 65 people at Canadian ski resort

About 65 people, including children, were trapped on a gondola at a ski resort as officials worked to free them with darkness falling and temperatures plummeting.

Parents of children trapped on the gondola at the Lake Louise ski resort were enraged by what they said were lackluster efforts to free those stuck.

"It's been an absolute fiasco, the lack of every kind of organization one would expect," Michael Giuffy, who has two sons _ aged 10 and 15 _ trapped on the gondola, told a resort official. "It's minus five, minus 10 and there's been absolutely no been attempt by your organization to communicate with parents who have children there."

Operations manager Rick Werner said one of the safety switches on the Grizzly Express gondola tripped about 3 p.m (2200 GMT), leaving the skiers stranded.

There was no immediate word on injuries.

Werner described the malfunction as similar to a blown tire and said officials were attempting to fix it.

Officials were attempting to begin evacuations about 5:30 p.m. (0030 GMT), but estimated that could take up to two hours.

Eight teams of ski patrollers were working to help get those trapped out of the gondola cabins, AP reported. V.A.