Published on 19/01/2025 08:05
Reading time: 1min – video: 2min
Pyrenees: 30 injured in chairlift accident
A chairlift accident occurred this Saturday, January 18 in a ski resort in the Aragon region, in the Spanish Pyrenees. Around thirty injuries, including four serious, were recorded.
The ski resort of Astún (Spain) is transformed into a field hospital, with 15 ambulances and five helicopters mobilized. Saturday January 18 in the morning, 80 skiers were installed in a chairlift, when suddenly, the cable seemed to break. “All of a sudden the seats started bouncing and people were flying everywhere”says a woman who witnessed the scene. According to initial findings, the accident was due to the breakage of a metal part near a wheel.
This type of pulley, fixed at the top of the ski lift, allows the seat to perform a half-turn. Once the wheel was on the ground, the cable relaxed and rippled, causing the skiers to fall. Nearly thirty were injured, four of them seriously. The passengers who remained suspended had to be evacuated one by one by emergency services. They quickly reassured their families. The damaged chairlift, built in 1989, is one of the oldest in the Spanish resort.
Watch the full report in the video below.
