Ski lift accident leaves 30 injured at Spanish resort in the Pyrenees

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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — At least 30 people have been injured in a ski lift accident at the Spanish resort of Astún, in the Pyrenees mountain range, emergency services for Spain's northern Aragon region said Saturday.

Regional emergency services said that 10 people needed to be treated in hospitals, including two who were seriously injured.

State TV channel TVE reported that around 80 people were trapped on the chairlifts in the immediate aftermath.

“It’s like a cable has come off, the chairs have bounced and people have been thrown off,” one witness told TVE.

Fernando Beltrán, a representative of Spain’s government in Aragon, later posted on X that “all the skiers affected by the accident” have been evacuated and those who were injured were receiving medical treatment.

The cause of the incident is unknown.

Several helicopters were deployed to the area to rescue those trapped and transfer the injured to nearby hospitals.

Social media images and video appeared to show a number of people lying on the snow beneath the ski lift.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was “shocked” by the news of the accident, expressing his closeness to the injured and their families.

The ski resort said on X that it was “working with emergency services” and that its management expressed “consternation and support for those affected” by the incident.