Internet Culture

Terrified skiers flung through the air as ski lift malfunctions

Several people were injured.

Photo of David Britton

David Britton

Georgia ski lift malfunction

A malfunctioning ski lift in the nation of Georgia has left 10 people injured, including a pregnant woman from Sweden and a Ukrainian man who broke his hand.

Featured Video

The video of the incident, posted to Instagram by snowboarder Alena Pakhomova, shows the lift running backwards at high speed. One skier can be seen trapped under the lift seats as they crash into each other, and multiple people are shown being flung through the air.

Advertisement

A video shot from another angle shows panicked skiers dropping equipment and jumping off the lift before it reaches the bottom.

The incident occurred early today at the Gudauri resort, located in the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range.

Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs says that rescue workers arrived quickly and some victims were removed by helicopter.

Advertisement

Although multiple people were injured, Georgian health minister David Sergeenko said only two cases seemed serious. “Only two cases need to be monitored.” he said in a statement, “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.”

A spokesperson for the Doppelmayr Garaventa group, the Austrian-based company that manufactured the ski lift, told the Telegraph that it is investigating the malfunction.

“Our employees are already on their way to Gudauri,” said the spokesperson. “At the moment we have no detailed information.”

H/T The Telegraph

Advertisement
 
The Daily Dot