Tourists stranded mid-air as monorail stops working

Twenty foreign and Thai tourists were stranded mid-air for an hour after an electric monorail stopped working at a zoo in Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai frequented by several Indian visitors every month.

A rescue basket was deployed to free the passengers from cars about 10 metres above the ground, Bangkok Post online said, adding that no one was injured.

A preliminary investigation showed that a brake problem caused it to stop unexpectedly.

The monorail, which was pressed into service in late 2007, can transport between 50 and 70 passengers at a time in air-conditioned cars.

The nationalities of the foreigners were not announced.