Cable automotive crash leaves at the very least six injured at up-market French ski resort
At least six people have reportedly been injured in a cable car accident in the popular Alpine ski resort of Val Thorens in France.
The accident occurred early this morning under ‘challenging weather conditions’ as the upmarket resort prepared to open for ski season, local authorities reported.
A cabin of the Cime Caron cable car, used for construction work, hit the arrival station while carrying 16 workers.
Emergency responders were deployed to the site and used a gondola to evacuate the injured as the prefecture set up a ‘mass casualty plan’ to coordinate efforts.
Two people were found ‘seriously injured’ and four ‘slightly injured’, the local prefecture reported.
The accident happened just four days before the opening of the resort for the winter season, on Nov. 23.
Emergency services were brought in to evacuate the injured as six were reported injured
File photo, 2018. Two people were ‘seriously injured’ and four ‘slightly injured’ in the accident
Severe weather conditions had hampered visibility on the slopes before the accident
Firefighters, paramedics, ski patrollers, and high-mountain rescue teams were all drawn in to help rescue the injured as a crisis management cell was pulled together.
Val Thorens is an exceptionally high ski station in the Alps, making it a top destination for skiers wanting guaranteed snow as climate change hits resorts at lower altitudes.
With 150 kilometers (93 miles) of runs at altitudes ranging from 2,300 meters up to 3,200 meters, it attracts skiers from across Europe and is part of the 3 Vallées grouping of ski resorts that also includes chic Courchevel and Méribel.
The Cime Caron cable car was once the longest in the world at the time of its construction in 1982, the resort’s website says.
The Prefecture of Savoie said the accident occurred around 7:30am this morning.
Two were found ‘seriously injured but not in a life-threatening condition’ while four were ‘slightly injured’ in the accident.
In June, a father-of-three was killed and 21 people injured when a cable car crashed into another and plummeted into the street below in Colombia.
The cabin was carrying 11 people when it pulled into the station in the northeastern side of Medellín and plowed into the car in front of it.
The car snapped from the cable line, plunging 32 feet to the sidewalk near the platform entrance.
Jhon Londoño, a 49-year-old father-of-three, was rushed to a CES Clinic, where doctors attempted to revive him before pronouncing him dead.
The accident left at least 200 people stuck in multiple cabins for almost two hours on the line that operates between the Medellín neighborhoods of Santo Domingo and Acevedo.
Authorities rushed to the scene to help those trapped on the cable car down to safety
Val Thorens is an exceptionally high ski station in the Alps, making it a top destination for skiers (File photo, 2021)
In April, one person was killed and seven injured when a pylon supporting cable cars in Turkey suddenly collapsed.
The eight people in the cabin fell into a rocky area after a connecting pole fell ‘for an undetermined reason’, local media reported at the time.
Two children were among the injured in the accident at the Tunektepe cable car just outside the Mediterranean city of Antalya on April 12.
Helicopters equipped with night vision were called in to rescue 184 people left stranded in the cable car system’s cabins after the horror unfolded, officials said.
