Five skiers were transported to the hospital Monday after an “incident” on a chairlift at Heavenly Ski Resort Lake Tahoesaid Bryce Cranch, deputy chief of the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District.
The condition of the patients shouldn’t be yet known.
The incident happened around 10 a.m. local time and the fireplace department said it responded with two fire engines and three ambulances.
Photos taken by a skier and shared with CNN show the aftermath of a collision between two chairs.
Travis Faanes told CNN that he was standing in line for the Dipper Express chairlift when he heard someone shout “Oh my God!”
He said as he turned to his right he saw people falling and hitting the bottom.
“The chair slid back into the chair behind it with the people on it,” Faanes said. “The people in the front seat fell off.”
He added that things might have been worse.
“She [are] Luckily that happened right at the start of the lift,” he said.
Brett Federico told CNN that he arrived there immediately after the incident.
Federico said he saw 4 sleds taking people down the mountain after the incident and he saw one in every of the victims riding by with oxygen.
“It wasn’t good at all,” Federico said. “A broken chair has always been a nightmare for me, and witnessing this is even worse.”
The resort is “investigating” the incident and guest safety is “top priority,” communications manager Cole Zimmerman told CNN.
Originally published:
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