About 50 people are still stuck in cable cars high above the French alps, after rescuers had to suspend their operation to retrieve people.

The cable cars were stuck at about 3800m, initially with 110 people on board, Haute-Savoie region prefect Georges-Francois Leclerc said.

“We succeeded in evacuating, in very difficult conditions, 60 people in an hour and a half,” Mr Leclerc said.

Mr Leclerc did not say whether the tourists remaining in the cable cars would have to spend the entire night suspended in the cars.

The cable cars connect Aiguille du Midi on the French side of the mountains with Pointe Helbronner on the Italian border.

The problem was caused by cables that got crossed for “unknown reasons” around 3pm Thursday (local time), with staff unable to repair them, according to Mont Blanc company officials.

Weather conditions later deteriorated, turning cloudy at the high altitudes.