Horror as four skiers fall to the ground at an Australian resort as the lift chair detaches from the cable in an “unusual gust of wind”.
FOUR skiers fell to the ground after their ski lift was blown loose by an “unusual gust of wind”.
The horrifying incident happened about halfway up a chairlift at Thredbo ski resort in New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday afternoon.
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Two women in their 20s were treated at the scene for back injuries before being flown to hospital after falling several meters into the snow.
A man in his 20s also suffered facial injuries in the fall and was taken to hospital for further treatment.
A spokesman for the resort said the incident was caused by “an unusual gust of wind”.
They added: “Thredbo can confirm that there was an isolated incident affecting a single chair on the Kosciuszko chairlift around 2.20pm on Saturday, caused by an unusual gust of wind.”
“There were no major injuries and the three guests involved are being looked after by the team. Other guests or chairs were not affected.”
“Thredbo is committed to the safety of our guests and our employees. The incident is currently being thoroughly investigated by SafeWork NSW and an independent engineer.”
“Thredbo assures guests that their safety is our top priority and that we will continue to apply our high standards of safety and risk management.”
The Kosciuszko chairlift is Australia’s longest ski lift at almost two kilometers long and was completed around 33 years ago.
Gusts of up to 65 km/h were registered in the area on Saturday.
The incident also followed a similar fall at the resort in 2019, when a skier fell 30 feet from the Gunbarrel quad just before arriving at the top of a hill.
The driver suffered minor bruises in the fall.
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