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Fifty skiers trapped after lift at mountain resort collapses
Ed Harris17 Dec 2008
MORE than 50 people were trapped for three hours in 30 ski lift cars after a supporting tower collapsed at the Canadian resort of Whistler.
Some of the cars crashed to the ground and one landed on a bus shelter. Others were left dangling in mid-air, one over an icy river.
Rescue workers used a crane to prop up the 30ft tower while the skiers were helped to safety.
Five people were taken to hospital but are not thought to have been seriously hurt. Graeme Bell said the car he was in crashed to the ground.
He said: "It was pretty freaky. We heard the noise of the tower collapsing and then the cabin started shaking and down it went. It hit the ground. It busted one of the windows and we jumped out."
Cameron Molitor, from Chicago, was under the bus shelter that was hit by one of the cars. "I saw it swing out and then it hit the bus stop and made the window shatter," he said.
Michelle Dehaas said: "There was one car in particular that fell about 30ft and was hovering, still attached to the cable, over the freezing river."
Sergeant Steve Wright of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said: "The first priority were the cars that were hanging precariously, one above a creek."
Sergeant Wright said the passengers who were rescued were in good spirits and were met by emergency health services.
The plummeting temperatures were not a concern because the people were wearing protective ski clothing and were in a sheltered environment, he added.
A resort spokesman said: "We are very thankful that no one was seriously injured in this incident."
In 1995 one man was killed and nine others were injured at Whistler when a chair lift broke loose from its cable and plummeted three storeys to the ground, hitting other chairs on the way down.
The resort recently unveiled a new lift connecting the peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains but it was not affected by yesterday's collapse.
Whistler, in British Columbia, is to host the alpine events of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Reader views (1)
.... and this is the same resort that has just opened the worlds longest spanning cable car !!!
- Marke, Houston, Texas, 17/12/2008 18:59
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