An accident occurred this Tuesday morning at nearly 3,200 meters above sea level on the Val Thorens ski area cable car which takes you to the Trois Vallées ski area, which is supposed to open next weekend for the winter season. Eight workers were injured, including two seriously, revealed The Dauphiné Libéré.
“The cable car, which was transporting 16 people responsible for a construction site, hit the arrival station at Cime Caron which is located at approximately 3,200 meters above sea level,” indicated the prefect of Savoie François Ravier during a press briefing. The accident occurred around 7:45 a.m. in “not very good” weather conditions, but which subsequently improved and its causes are currently unknown, he said.
The toll stands at “two seriously injured people without a life-threatening condition, who were evacuated to the hospitals of Grenoble and Chambéry” and “six lightly injured”, he said, noting a previous report which reported six injured, two of whom were serious.
The workers were to intervene on the construction site of “Caron 3200”, a brand new complex with a mountain restaurant, reports The Dauphiné Libéré.
The Albertville public prosecutor's office was contacted and a team from the investigation and accident office is expected on site Wednesday morning “to analyze the causes of what happened”, added the prefect.
The dumpster “entered the summit station at a fairly high speed,” said Claude Jay, the mayor of Belleville, where Val Thorens is located.
Driving in manual mode
According to Jérôme Grellet, general director of SETAM, the company which operates the cable cars, the station operated in “construction site” or “manual” mode, that is to say less secure than when it is open to the public and is then managed in an automated manner.
The cabin was driven by an “extremely experienced” pilot who, “very shocked” by the accident, was taken care of by the psychological unit, he said.
>> Read the article from Dauphiné Libéré.
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