Tragedy has struck at a ski resort in Spain. More than 30 people got injured with 80 people trapped after a ski lift collapsed. The incident happened on early Saturday morning.
A ski lift collapsed at Astun Ski Resort in the Aragon Valley, Spain. 30 people were injured in the terrifying incident with 17 people seriously harmed by the incident. Others remained trapped on what remained of the structure, clinging to the cable. Several of the chairlifts on the ski lift collapsed.
Rescue crews responded to the scene with five helicopters and more than a dozen ambulances. A survivor of the ski lift collapse spoke out about the incident. He said, "A pulley wheel appears to have broken or come loose and the cable started to jump around and every time it happened we went up and down. We were lucky in that we didn't hit the ground but there were people in front of us who did hit the ground and received blows to their faces and other parts of their body."
Ski Lift Collapses
Another witness of the event said, "Thank God we haven't fallen but others have and there are lots of people injured."
As the chairlift collapsed, people began to fly out of their chairs.
"Suddenly we heard a sound and we fell straight to the ground, inside the chair. We bounced up and down about five times and our backs were quite sore or we were hurt, but there were people who fell out of the chairs," María Moreno told public television TVE. "The truth is that we were very scared."
More than 30 people got injured in the ski lift collapse.
Miguel Ángel Clavero, the Aragon Government's head of emergencies, said, "There's been a failure of the return on one of the chairlifts and that has caused loss of tension and led to chairlifts falling. Three people have been evacuated, two by helicopter including a woman who needs an emergency operation."
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez said in a tweet, "Shocked by the news of the accident at Astun ski resort. I have spoken to Aragon president Jorge Azcon to offer him the government's full support."
