This is the terrifying moment hundreds of tourists climbing a sheer rock face were left stranded when the line suddenly stopped moving in China.

According to the managers at the Yandang Mountain rock climbing attraction in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, the problem was caused by too many people blocking the route.

One man posted a worried note to a family member together with the video saying they had been stuck for an hour on the side of the cliff and nothing was moving.

However when officials from the climbing tour company were contacted, they claimed that there had simply been too many people who had decided to use the route, and as a result, they had ended up with significant delays which was sorted by restricting the number of people that were allowed to join the queue.

They said that the delays were about one to two hours before the bottleneck was finally cleared and that the number of visitors was unusually high because of the May Day holiday.

They added that if anybody had become panicked, they had the opportunity to abseil down with the help of a professional, but as this cost a rescue fee, most people had not taken that option.

The Yandang Mountain Scenic Area that managed the service said the charge was because lots of people would get halfway and then ask to abseil down because they thought it was fun.