Spain lift collapse: Death toll reduced to 10 injured
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"People were stealing": Eyewitnesses describe lift collapse
A chairlift accident at a ski resort in Spain has left 10 people injured, including two women in intensive care.
The Astún resort in the Spanish Pyrenees, where the incident occurred, was closed while emergency services attended the scene.
A pulley failure is believed to have caused a cable to snap and several chairlifts to fall to the ground, throwing skiers into the snow.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he was "shocked" by news of the incident. Initial reports said about 30 people were injured, but local media later reported that 17 people needed medical treatment.
Ambulances and helicopters transported some of the injured to hospital. Two women, both 18, are in intensive care, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.
According to public broadcaster TVE, a pulley at one end of the elevator broke and part of the structure supporting it collapsed, causing a cable to lose tension and several seats to fall.
Dozens of people who were left hanging from the 15-metre elevator were helped down. Jaime Pelegri, who was in the elevator, told the BBC that a cable lost tension before the seats on his side of the structure fell.
"It was very scary, but very fast," he said - adding that ambulances and helicopters arrived at the scene within 15 minutes.
In a message on X earlier, he wrote: "Fortunately we are fine, but there are people injured, we saw some stretchers lying around."
Images on social media appear to show one of the elevator's wheels being pulled from its vertical position. Authorities have not yet specified the cause of the outage.
Regional president Jorge Azcón and Spanish Interior Minister Roberto Bermúdez de Castro visited the scene. Azcón wrote on X: "All necessary [government] services are working to help the affected and injured people."
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he had spoken to Azcón to offer the government's "full support."
A hotline has been set up for the families of those affected.
The Astún resort, which is very popular with Spanish skiers, is located in the Aragon region in the Pyrenees, near the border with France.
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