At least 30 people are reported to have been injured, 17 of whom seriously, after a ski lift collapsed in northern Spain.
The Astún resort in the Spanish Pyrenees, where the incident happened, has been closed and rescue services are at the scene.
Images and video circulating on social media appear to show a number of people lying on the snow beneath the ski lift.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was “shocked” by the news of the incident.
Ambulances and helicopters have been ferrying the injured to nearby hospitals.
One of Spain’s public broadcasters reports that dozens of people remain hanging from the 15-metre-high chairlift awaiting rescue.
A witness told local media that it looked like a cable had come off, the chairs had bounced and people were thrown from the lift.
“We are talking about around 30 to 35 people injured, including serious, very serious and less serious injuries,” Miguel Ángel Clavero, the director of emergencies for the Aragon region, where the incident occurred, told public television TVE, according to AFP.
“Apparently, there was a failure in the return pulley of one of the chairlifts and this caused the cable to lose tension, causing some chairs to fall and others to remain hanging,” he said.
Images on social media purport to show one of the chairlift’s flywheels off its spoke.
The cause of the cable failure is currently unknown.
An eyewitness, Jamie Pelegri, said on social media that it was the Canal Roya chairlift was the one that had collapsed.
“Luckily we are fine but there are injured people, we have seen several stretchers coming down,” the Spotify commercial director said.
Video posted by Spain’s Guardia Civil shows a helicopter flying past the scene before landing to allow emergency workers to disembark.
Regional president Jorge Azcón and Spain’s Minister of the Interior Roberto Bermúdez de Castro are on their way to the ski resort to understand the extent of the accident.
Azcón wrote on X: “All the necessary services of the [government] are working to assist the affected and injured people.”
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he had spoken with Azcón “to offer him the “full support” of the government.
This article was originally published at www.bbc.com
