A Japanese climber and a South African guide died after falling from a cliff on Table Mountain in South Africa late Monday.
A third climber, a Japanese female, survived the fall.
Emergency responders used ropes from a cable car to recover the bodies of the two male climbers early Tuesday, CBS reported.
Cable car operations were temporarily suspended, and roughly 500 tourists awaiting their ride down Table Mountain, were stranded at the top while the recovery mission was underway.
The cable car operators thanked tourists for their patience in a statement issued Tuesday.
“By enabling us to use the cable car to assist Metro Rescue, you contributed to the rescue operation which saw the injured climber transported down the mountain in the cable car. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the two climbers who lost their lives,” the statement read.
A local climbing guide and two Japanese clients were involved in the accident, Merle Collins, a spokeswoman for South Africa’s national parks service said, according to CBS.
The climbers were suspended by ropes just below the cable car station at the top of the mountain when they fell, Johan Marais, a spokesman for Wilderness Search and Rescue said.
One of them could have lost their footing and dragged their climbing companions down, according to Marais.
The two climbers who died ended up partially supported by a ledge on a cliff face, according to Marais, CBS reported.
A tourist in a cable car saw one climber administering CPR to another.
Rescuers transferred the injured survivor to a harness that was raised into the cable car, Marais said.
“It was difficult to communicate with her because of the language difference,” Marais said of the sole survivor, who was not named, CBS reported.
She is in stable condition at a Cape Town hospital.
Her companions’ bodies were recovered and taken off the mountain.
The accident took place on a steep section of table mountain called Arrow Final, according to reports.
Roughly 30 volunteers responded to the scene to help.
Since 1980, 133 people have died on Table Mountain, according to the South African Mountain Accident Database, BBC News reported.