Dozens of passengers were left hanging high above Haifa Bay on the evening of Thursday, November 12, 2026, after a severe technical fault stopped Line 27 of the city's Rakavlit cable car. The riders were stuck in the gondolas with no way to get out on their own. Israel Fire and Rescue Services, Magen David Adom crews and municipal staff rushed to the scene, set up a command post and prepared for a complex high-altitude rescue. The operator, Cable Express, also worked to evacuate the people in the stalled cabins. Later reports said the passengers were rescued after about two hours, and the fault was fixed so the cable car could go back to normal operation, with officials describing it as a technical fault posing no danger to passengers.

The timing is what has people talking. The cable car had only reopened on November 10 after being closed from November 5 for planned maintenance meant to keep the system and its passengers safe. Just two days earlier, on Tuesday, Haifa firefighters had held a large drill at the very same site, simulating passengers trapped in the cabins. The system has 148 cabins that each hold up to ten people, and it links lower Haifa with the university campuses on the mountain, so many of its riders are students. Officials have not explained what exactly went wrong, which leaves a big question about how a fault like this happened so soon after maintenance.