The accident, which occurred in the ski resort of Astún, in Aragon, left thirty people injured. Four people are in serious condition, according to local authorities.
Thirty people were injured, several seriously, in a chairlift accident Saturday at a Pyrenees ski resort in Astún, Aragon, in northeastern Spain, near the French border, authorities said local.
“We are talking about 30 to 35 injured, serious, very serious or less serious”Miguel Ángel Clavero, director of emergency services in the Aragon region, where the Astún station is located, had initially declared on public television TVE.
“Obviously, there was a problem with the pulley of one of the chairlifts, which led to a loss of tension in the cable and the fall of some chairlifts”he explained. In detail, “one of the pulleys which returned the chairlift came loose around 12 p.m., which caused part of the structure to fall and the mechanism to break in tension with a strong jolt”specifies RTVE.
Severe shock
Ten victims had to be treated in hospitals, four of whom were in serious condition. The other twenty were treated at the station by emergency services. Arriving on site, the president of the Aragon region where the Astún station is located, Jorge Azcón, indicated that the most seriously injured victim, a woman, had to be transferred to a nearby hospital by helicopter.
-All the skiers who remained suspended in their chairlift 15 meters high were able to be rescued, he added. “We suddenly heard a noise and fell to the ground in the chairlift. We bounced five times, up, down. Our backs hurt and we suffered blows, but there were people who fell from the chairlifts”said María Moreno, one of the victims, on public television. “We were very scared”she added.
A young person who witnessed the incident, also on TVE, said he saw a cable from the chairlift mechanism jump. “Suddenly the chairlifts started bouncing and people were flying”he described.
Heavy emergency device
Five helicopters were deployed, including two from the Government of Aragon, one from Navarre, one from the Gardia Civil Mountain and another from the regional community rescue, according to RTVE. Around fifteen ambulances were also mobilized to evacuate the injured to hospitals near the station, where a field hospital was set up, according to the emergency services. “24 basic resuscitation teams also arrived on the scene, five resuscitation teams and three advanced resuscitation teams with a nurse, as well as psychologists to take care of the victims and users of the winter complex”adds RTVE.
In a message published on X, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he “shocked by the information about the accident in Astún station” and indicated that he had ‘offered all the support’ from central government to local authorities.
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