“People were thrown away,” says Marcos, still visibly shocked. He witnessed the accident at the Astún ski station in the Pyrenees. What had started as a carefree day of skiing in an idyllic winter landscape turned into horror on Saturday morning: people fell from a height of up to 15 meters when a component of a chairlift came loose and the structure partially collapsed.
“We had never experienced anything like this before, so there was a lot of excitement,” ski instructor Jon told the Spanish newspaper “El Español”. He was teaching when he heard about the accident. All ski instructors were asked to come forward immediately to help with the rescue work.
At this point, many people were still stuck at dizzy heights. The helpers began to use ladders to get them out of the chairs. “People were a little nervous, but we gradually calmed them down so we could get them to safety,” Jon explains. In an hour-long operation, everyone was gradually rappelled down or rescued by helicopter.
Some people were able to save themselves by jumping – like Maria Moreno. The Spaniard described the chaotic moments in an interview with RTVE: “I was in the elevator with my father when it suddenly jerked. Some fell headfirst, others rolled down the slopes. She jumped off at the last moment and alerted the rescue services. “The seriously injured people were probably mostly hit by the falling structure,” Maria speculates.
Ski instructor Marcos describes the anxious minutes: “I saw two unconscious people being transported away by helicopter, but the rest were able to free themselves on their own,” he says. Some of the victims had minor bruising, broken eyebrows or “a broken tooth,” Marcos said.
Five surrounding hospitals were put on high alert. Two seriously injured women aged 18, who according to official information were the greatest concern, were flown by rescue helicopter to clinics in the regional capital Zaragoza.
According to an employee at the ski station, a rope had come loose from the clamps. This caused the upper wheel to break and the rope to get caught on the column. As a result, the chairs were thrown up and down four times, says the employee. “Some people fell to the ground, others flew through the air and some remained face down.”
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