Ski Gondola Crashes Into Ground Leaving Four People Seriously Injured

A cable car plunged to the ground at a ski resort in the Austrian Alps on Tuesday, seriously injuring everyone on board.

A family of four was wounded in the gondola crash, which reportedly happened after a tree fell across the suspension cables of the Acherkogelbahn cable car in the Hochoetz skiing area of Tyrol province, the Austria Press Agency reported.

The gondola plummeted from a height of around 7 meters (about 23 feet). The car, which is designed to hold 8 skiers, crashed into the mountain shortly after 10:20 a.m. local time, according to the Austrian broadcasting corporation ORF.

All four victims were rescued by helicopter and airlifted to a hospital, the Associated Press reported. The cable car operator told reporters that the skiers in the other gondolas were safely at the upper or lower terminals.

The facility was temporarily closed.

Cable car accidents are rare, but tragedies in recent years have made headlines around the world. An accident at Mottarone mountain in Italy in May 2021 saw 14 people, including children, killed when their gondola fell 65 feet. A report later concluded that cable and brake failures caused the crash.

Later that year, stomach-churning footage emerged of cable cars swaying in the air with passengers trapped inside after Mexico was hit by a powerful earthquake. In 2016, 33 passengers riding a string of gondolas were trapped overnight, dangling above Mont Blanc Glaciers, after the cables became tangled in the air.

Police sources told ORF that the four wounded passengers in Austria were "seriously" injured, with one thought to be in critical condition. They were taken to hospitals in Zams and Innsbruck.

Details about the victims, including their nationality and ages, have not yet been released. But deputy district police commander Michael Haid told the broadcaster: "All we know is that it is a father, his son and daughter, and an uncle."

The air rescue is believed to have been particularly difficult to conduct because the crash site was in the middle of the cable car's route on relatively impassable terrain in the forest, an unnamed spokesman for the Acherkogelbahn company said.

Police were also contacted by three skiers who were in other gondolas at the time, stating they were also hurt during the accident—apparently the result of the wild vibration of the suspension cable. Experts will now be investigating the cause of the accident alongside the police.

Newsweek reached out to the police via email for comment.

Jacqueline Jones, who was in a separate cable car at the time of the incident, told MailOnline that her own family had had a lucky escape.

"Luckily our son wanted to come earlier today to practise before his ski school started, otherwise we would have been on the gondola at that exact time," Jones said. "We are keeping our fingers crossed for those involved. As a small resort, you see the same faces every day."

Update 01/09/24, 10:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and background.