Dramatic video showing a ski-lift malfunction in the country of Georgia has gone viral.
According to authorities, at least 10 people were injured when the ski lift at the Gudauri resort began running at high speed, in reverse.
Georgia’s state-owned Mountain Resorts Development Company told CNN that ski patrol and three ambulance crew members were deployed to the scene and that the injured skiiers were taken to the health clinic at the resort.
Additionally, Mountain Resorts Development Company said that they contacted the Doppelmayr Garaventa group, the ski lift manufacturer, to investigate the cause of the incident.
via CNN:
Some skiiers told CNN they had to jump off of the out-of-control lift to avoid being crushed at the bottom of the hill. Yuri Leontyev, 32, from Belarus, was on the ski lift with two friends when the incident occurred. He filmed people being thrown off of the chairs, landing in the snow.
“The ski lift stopped and started going in reverse,” he told CNN. “We had to jump from it, because at the bottom (of the hill) it was total trash and no chance to stay safe. The movement of the lift stopped and a minute later we drove back,” she told CNN. “The speed increased, it was out of control. The lift could not be stopped. People began to jump from different altitudes, panic began. Many did not manage to jump off and were thrown out from the impact.”
“According to initial information, Sadzele ski lift in Gudauri stopped working, chairs crashed into each other with riders suspended in the air, causing health injury of medium gravity,” the company said in a statement. “As a result, according to preliminary data, 10 people were injured.”
According to reports, one of the injured was pregnant.