A chairlift accident that occurred on Saturday January 18 in the ski resort of Astún, located in the Spanish Pyrenees (Aragon region), near the French border, caused more than thirty injuries, several of them seriously. Local emergency services confirmed that between 30 and 35 people were affected, of which nine serious cases were reported by local media.
Miguel Ángel Clavero, director of emergency services in the region, spoke of an initial assessment on public television
TVE : “We are talking about 30 to 35 injured, serious, very serious or less serious”. According to him,
“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”.
Regional president Jorge Azcón said three of the most seriously injured were taken to hospital, including a woman who was evacuated by helicopter. He clarified that “all the skiers who were left hanging in their chairlift were able to be rescued”. However, Mr. Azcón did not confirm the nine serious cases mentioned by the media.
“We suddenly heard a noise and fell to the ground”
Witnesses at the scene described a scene of chaos. One victim, Maria Moreno, described what she saw to TVE
: “We suddenly heard a noise and we fell to the ground, in the chairlift. We bounced five times, up, down, and our backs hurt and took hits, but there were people who fell of the chairlifts. We were very scared.”. A young witness reported seeing “a cable from the mechanism of the chairlift jumps” and added: “Suddenly the chairlifts started bouncing and people were flying”.
Several witnesses published their images on social networks.
Emergency services were quickly deployed to the scene, mobilizing five helicopters and around fifteen ambulances to transport the injured to the nearest hospitals. A field hospital was also set up near the station to treat emergency victims.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, reacted on the social network “shocked by the information about the accident in Astún station” and claimed to have
“offered all the support” from central government to local authorities.
