Skier is killed when gondola detaches from cable and rolls down mountain at Swiss resort
A skier was killed when his gondola fell off the cable and rolled down a snow-covered mountain slope at a Swiss ski resort on Wednesday.
Dramatic footage showed the cabin at the Titlis resort rolling down a hill after breaking loose and flipping several times as horrified onlookers watched.
‘He came off the cable and started rolling,’ an eyewitness said.
One of the images shows a crumpled car lying at the bottom of the hill. Another shows a rescue operation in progress, with a person being taken away by emergency responders.
“They tried to resuscitate them for about 30 minutes,” the witness added.
‘There was a strong wind. Then there was a jolt and the cable moved. Finally the cabin collapsed.’
The incident occurred in the center of Engelberg, a village in the canton of Obwalden, and a rescue helicopter rushed to the scene, with the car’s occupants frightened.
While local reports indicate that at least one person was seriously injured, the full extent of the injuries remains unclear.
At least one person was seriously injured when a gondola fell off the cable and rolled down a snow-covered mountain slope at a Swiss ski resort on Wednesday.
One of the photos shows a crumpled car lying at the bottom of the hill.
Another shows the rescue operation continuing. According to local media reports, one person was taken away by rescue teams
The accident occurred despite strong winds exceeding 80 km per hour affecting the region.
Some of the cable cars in Engelberg’s Titlis ski area, which has 82 km of pistes and rises to 3,238 meters, remained open at that time.
Shortly after 11:00 local time (10:30 GMT), a gondola broke loose from the elevator above the middle station, an eyewitness told Swiss media.
Later footage shows a rescue helicopter landing and a person having to be resuscitated after the crash.
In December, six people, including a child, were injured when a cable car crashed into a station barrier while approaching a mountain peak in Italy ‘too fast’.
Nearly a hundred people were trapped after the incident at the Macugnaga cable car in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola region of Piedmont.
Local media reports claim that the cable car reaches the station at an altitude of 9,000 ft very quickly.
Following the incident, the surrounding ski slopes were closed and the chairlift was also stopped.
Those stranded were evacuated by the National Alpine Rescue Corps via two fire helicopters.
Six of the injured were immediately treated by paramedics at the scene, but they are scheduled to be transported to a local hospital by air ambulance.
