'We are lucky to be alive,' says British family whose cable car smashed into buffers on Italian mountain

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Elizabeth Maddox, 34, was with her husband Alex and two sons, aged six and three, when the car carrying them and 20 other skiers failed to stop and hit the concrete wall at 25mph.

The impact sent the skiers tumbling on top of each other and they feared the car would slide back down and over the edge of the 6,000ft drop.

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Approximately twenty people were injured when the cable car failed to break

Mrs Maddox, from London, said: "I really feel we are lucky to be alive. It was awful.

"There was blood everywhere and it was not a very good sight. Everyone was tangled up with everyone else and there was a lot of panic.

"We didn't know how long we would be there and the impact with the wall was tremendous.

"The car rode up on itself and sent everyone crashing backwards on top of each other. My sons were terrified.

"We were just hanging there for what seemed an eternity and then the emergency services arrived."

The Maddoxes arrived at the resort of Sestriere near Turin on Friday and took the cable car on Saturday morning.

Mrs Maddox, a PR executive, said: "On the way up it was very stop-start and it did actually stop for ten minutes midway before starting again.

"As we approached it did not slow down and you knew it was going to hit.

"The emergency brakes failed and we all just braced ourselves for the impact and when it came it was tremendous."

The children injured their heads and are in hospital in the centre of Turin. Mr Maddox has head and eye injuries. The family are expected to return to Britain later this week.

Officials believe the incident was caused by human error or mechanical failure. The cable car is less than three years old.