Horror moment gondola plunges from cable at Titlis ski resort and rolls down slope | World | News

The heartbreaking moments when a gondola fell off the cable and rolled down a snow-covered mountain slope at a ski resort in Switzerland were caught on camera. Dramatic footage showed the cabin breaking free and hurtling down a hill in the Titlis resort, tumbling multiple times as stunned onlookers watched.

The crash occurred in the center of Engelberg, a village in the Swiss canton of Obwalden, prompting an immediate emergency response that included dispatching a rescue helicopter over concerns that anyone might have been inside the crashed cabin. Initial uncertainty about the casualties was later resolved when local authorities confirmed that the only person on the gondola had died and that there were no other passengers on board at the time.

The incident occurred during strong winds that caused the closure of several lifts in the Titlis ski area, and witnesses reported seeing the cabin tip over multiple times as it rolled down the snowy slope.

The accident occurred because strong winds exceeding 80 km per hour were blowing in the area, but some of the lifts at Engelberg’s Titlis ski area, which covers 82 kilometers of pistes and reaches an altitude of 3,238 meters, were still operational.

According to a witness quoted in Swiss media, at around 11:00 local time (10:30 GMT), a gondola suddenly broke away from the cable above the middle station.

Additional footage from the scene shows the rescue helicopter landing minutes later and emergency crews trying to resuscitate the victim after the crash.

A similar accident occurred in Italy last December; Six people, including a child, were injured when the cable car crashed into the station barrier while approaching the summit at an unsafe speed, researchers said.

The impact left nearly a hundred passengers stranded 9,000 feet above ground on the Macugnaga cable car system in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola region of Piedmont.

Local reports stated that the cabin reached the mountain station too quickly, causing authorities to close the surrounding ski slopes and stop the cable car altogether while emergency crews were still trying to evacuate those trapped.