Spain’s local government has announced that a cable car accident occurred at a ski resort in the Aragon region on Saturday, January 18, resulting in dozens of injuries, with nine people in critical condition and eight seriously injured.
Aragon is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed being “shocked” by the news and stated that he had already spoken with the head of Aragon to convey the Spanish government’s support. “We offer our condolences to the injured and their families,” Sanchez said.
The Aragon Civil Protection Office informed CNN that the incident took place around noon on Saturday at the Astun ski resort in the Pyrenees mountains, with approximately 30 people injured.
According to reports from Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, part of the cable car’s structure malfunctioned, causing the cable car to fall and seats on it to become unstable, with some even flipping over.
An eyewitness told RTVE that it seemed like a cable had detached, causing seats to sway and people to be thrown out.
The official cause of the malfunction has not been disclosed yet. The management of the ski resort has also not been able to confirm if there were any foreign nationals among the injured.
Footage released by the National Guard showed dozens of people stranded in the snow on the mountainside after the cable car was damaged.
Several helicopters were deployed in the area for rescue operations, evacuating stranded skiers and transporting the injured to nearby hospitals.
The Astun ski resort is popular among Spanish skiers and is located near the border between Spain and France.
Representative Fernando Beltrán Blazquez of the Spanish government in Aragon announced on social media platform X that as of 3 pm local time on Saturday, all stranded individuals had been evacuated.
(This article includes information from Reuters and CNN reports)