Two Gondolas Plunge 40 Feet in France, Injuring 36 Skiers

Two wind-blown gondolas carrying dozens of skiers plunged 40 feet when a pylon broke, and the cable cars landed on parked automobiles at a resort Saturday. At least 36 people were injured, some seriously, police and witnesses said.

Skiers who saw the accident said there were strong winds in the Embrunais Valley at about 1 p.m. when the two cable cars, one going up to the La Grenouillerie ski resort and another coming down to a parking lot, fell to the ground.

“People were screaming with fear and pain,” a witness said. “Vacationers, resort personnel, everybody rushed to extract them from the (cable car) cabin where they were stuck in the middle of skis and ski poles.”

The gondola going up to the resort, carrying 34 passengers, landed on parked cars 40 feet below. The descending gondola had one passenger and landed in the snow below. One person on the ground was also injured, police said.

A spokesman for the resort said a pylon on the cable tower broke, causing the cable to collapse, but he gave no precise details.

The most seriously injured were taken by helicopter to hospitals near the Les Orres ski resort, in the Haute Alpes region 65 miles southeast of Grenoble.

A makeshift hospital was set up in a large room at the resort to treat minor injuries, police said. About 20 medical personnel administered first aid, police said.

All of the injured were French, mostly from the nearby cities of Gap, Briancon, Sisteron and Embrun or from the Mediterranean port city of Marseilles.