By: Kyle James | 03-16-2018 | News
Photo credit: Gudauri Resort | Instagram

Malfunctioning Ski Lift Sends Riders Flying, Ten Injured

A rogue ski lift violently threw tourists into the air in north-east Georgia after it suffered a mechanical failure. The incident that caused people to be thrown in the air left ten riders injured.

It all started when skiers were riding the lift down a hill at the Gudauri resort in the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in what was once the Soviet republic. Suddenly, without warning, the ski lift sped up which caused the lift chairs to wildly fly around.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cvilIi-wyQM" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

As the lift malfunctioned, the chairs began piling up at the bend causing a jam. When riders began to figure out the lift wasn't working properly they jumped off before their chairs would reach the bend, but not everyone made it off in time.

The malfunction left skiers on the ground "shaken and shocked" and those who were thrown suffered minor injuries. Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that emergency ski patrols were quickly dispatched to the scene while a helicopter helped transport injured parties to the hospital.

David Sergeenko, the health minister of Georgia, said the victims were of different nationalities. "Among the injured are Swedish and Ukrainian citizens," Sergeenko said.

"Only two cases need to be monitored. One of the injured, a Ukrainian citizen, broke his hand during the incident, and has a small head injury, while a Swedish citizen is pregnant and feels pain in her waist."

The Doppelmayr Garaventa group is the company that manufactured the ski lift and a spokesperson said they do not yet know what caused the lift to fail. A spokesman for the group said, "Our employees are already on their way to Gudauri. At the moment we have no detailed information."

<i>On Twitter:</i>

<a href="https://twitter.com/MAGASyndicate">@MAGASyndicate</a>

Tips? Info? Send me a message!

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/16/tourists-flung-control-ski-lift-malfunction-georgia-resort/

Twitter: #Georgia #SkiLift #SkiResort #GudauriResort #Accident #Snowboarding

Share this article
Thoughts on the above story? Comment below!
0 comment/s
What do you think about this article?
Name
Comment *
Image

Recent News

Popular Stories