Five chairs were thrown to the ground beneath the Spillway East chairlift at the Sugarloaf USA ski resort after the cable supporting the chairs derailed, dropping an estimated 25 to 30 feet.
"All injured guests have been treated and are being transported to area hospitals," a press release issued by the resort's management said. "At this point none of the injuries are believed to be life threatening."
Sugarloaf Ski Lift Accident
Approximately 220 passengers were on the lift at the time of the accident. Using ropes and harnesses, the mountain's ski patrol began evacuating those that remained stranded on the broken-down lift - but not before several of those stranded could post photos on social media sites and call news organizations to deliver first-person accounts of the incident.
"The chairlift was going slow and the winds started picking up," Robb Atkinson, a CNN employee who was trapped on the lift told the network. "It was stopping and starting, stopping and starting. One of the times where it started again, all of a sudden there was a bump and we could feel a jerk. And we heard screams from skiers down below yelling 'the chairs are off the lift!'"
Sugarloaf Ski Lift Accident
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