- Police confirmed that all the cable car’s passengers were badly injured
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A cable car crashed on Tuesday in a skiing region in western Austria, leaving all four people on board with serious injuries and one in critical condition.
A tree fell on the cable of the Acherkogelbahn in the Hochoetz skiing area of Tyrol province around 10:20am, causing damage to the system and bringing down the car, the Austria Press Agency reported.
The car plummeted roughly 23ft (7 metres), local media reported.
Police confirmed that all the car’s passengers were badly injured, but did not provide specifics.
One passenger in critical condition was evacuated by medical helicopter to the Innsbruck Medical University hospital, Hochoetz cable car spokesperson Michaela Burger said.
The three remaining passengers received medical care at the scene after being rescued from the stricken car before being taken to Zams hospital.
One hair-raising image showed a medical helicopter winching rescuers and a passenger from the scene of the crash by rope, while another showed what appeared to be another injured passenger lying on a stretcher in a car park.
The facility was temporarily closed and people who were in other cable cars were already at its upper or lower terminals, the operator said.
The car was travelling between the eighth and ninth supports of the route – roughly in the centre of the Acherkogelbahn – when the accident occurred, resort officials said.
A team comprised of mountain rescue services, medical hospitals and police descended on the scene of the crash, an operation officials said was treacherous due to the difficult terrain.
Burger said ‘several trees’ fell on the cable, but added that such an incident is still ‘highly unlikely’ to cause a cable car to plummet to the ground.
‘Experts have to clarify how this could have happened,’ she told Austrian outlet Kurier.
Technicians and police are now investigating the incident.
There are around 60 other cable cars in circulation on the Acherkogelbahn route, all of which were safely brought to a halt and pulled back into the station following the accident.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
