Sugarloaf Lift Derails Injuring Six

by The Editors on December 28, 2010

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Maine’s Sugarloaf Resort experienced a lift failure this morning (December 28, 2010) at approximately 10:30 AM when a cable fell from a lift tower injuring six people, according to the Boston Globe. The injured reportedly fell from their chairs when the cable dropped. One hundred others were left stalled on the lift, according to CNN.com.

CNN Newsource employee Rob Atkinson was among about 100 skiers stranded on the chairlift 30 to 40 feet off the ground after the accident. At least three people were injured, he said. . . “We heard screams from skiers down below that skiers were off the lift, and we’ve been trapped ever since,” he told CNN’s Tony Harris.

Another person on one of the chairs that fell was the mother of Bomberonline.com’s Jack Michaud. He was on the lift next to the one that fell and had the following to say about the incident:

I was on the other side of this unique “double-runner” style chairlift when this happened. I saw the other side stop with a strange jerk that I had never seen before. Then we came up to the scene where the rope was on the ground, and it was a very scary and bizzare thing to behold. And then I saw my mother – she was on the side that crashed, on one of the chairs that hit the ground. She is ok. Very shaken-up and some bruises, but basically fine. . . According to my mom, the crash appeared to be caused by a mechanic who was up on the tower. He was banging on the shieve-train with a hammer or something, which they are known to do from time to time for god knows what reason, but he was doing that around the time the rope came off the wheels somehow. The worst looking injury was a guy pinned under a chair and he couldn’t get himself out, I believe due to his injuries, but he was conscious.

This may go down as the worst Christmas holiday ever.

[Link: CNN.com via @MattyMcClain, Boston Globe, Bomberonline, Photo via @USAbreakingnews]

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Anthony December 28, 2010 at 9:54 pm

Such accidents are just human mistake.There should be
proper security measurement to avoid such accident.Video related to
this accident is available on
http://onlineupdats.blogspot.com/2010/12/sugarloaf-accident-eight-injured-in.html

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