Out-of-Control Ski Lift Sends Skiers in Georgia Flying From Their Seats
Dramatic video shows skiers being thrown from a ski lift that suddenly started speeding up and hurtling backwards.
Ten people, including a pregnant woman, suffered minor injuries when the ski lift lost control at the Gudauri resort in the nation of Georgia Friday.
Footage shows some skiers jumping from their seats before the chairs crashed into each other, while other people were thrown violently to the ground. Onlookers screamed and ran to help those who were injured.
Ski patrols were promptly dispatched to the scene, and a helicopter helped transport the injured to a clinic.
"According to initial information, Sadzele ski lift in Gudauri stopped working, chairs crashed into each other with riders suspended in the air, causing health injury of medium gravity," Mountain Resorts Development Company said in a statement. "As a result, according to preliminary data, 10 people were injured."
A spokesperson for the ski lift manufacturer, the Doppelmayr Garaventa group, said they do not yet know what caused the malfunction but employees are investigating.
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