KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 183 people were left stranded for close to an hour when a RapidKL monorail coach suddenly stopped on the tracks in front of Wisma Monorail in Brickfields.

The passengers were rescued by firemen using two Skylift cranes.

Three passengers, including a pregnant woman, reportedly fainted when the air-conditioning system failed due to a power loss.

The two-car train, which was packed with people commuting to the city, stalled at around 2pm yesterday after leaving the Tun Sambathan station.

Rescue mission: Firemen getting the Skylift cranes ready to rescue the passengers.

A passenger Norashykin Zulkifli, 40, said the commuters were initially relaxed and calm when the monorail broke down.

“However, after about 15 minutes, people became restless and some began to panic,” she added.

Norashykin said she saw two people fainting in the congested train while a few others even tried to break the glass windows to get out.

“Two trains came by from the station which was about 300m away to rescue us.

Firemen attempting to rescue one of the commuters during the incident at Brickfields.

“They first sent a train on the same track as ours, but it also stalled right in front of us.

“Thankfully, we saw firemen coming in. They broke the glass and started pulling people out,” she said.

Prasarana Negara Berhad media affairs manager Azhar Ghazali said the incident occurred due to a traction control malfunction which caused the train's engine to stop automatically.

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