BERLIN (AP) — A cable car in a western Austrian skiing region plunged up to 10 meters (about 33 feet) Tuesday in an accident apparently caused by a falling tree, seriously injuring four people from Denmark who were inside the car, police said.
A tree fell on a part fixing the car to the cable of the Acherkogelbahn in the Hochoetz skiing area of Tyrol province, the Austria Press Agency reported. The car then fell seven to 10 meters (23 to 33 feet) with the four occupants — a man aged 49; his children, a 20-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman, and their 46-year-old uncle.
One of them had life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital in Innsbruck. Local police commander Hubert Juen told APA that the total number of injured was believed to be six. Two German citizens in the next car along were hurt as a result of the vibrations of the cable, which didn’t break, but it wasn’t clear how seriously.
Experts were still investigating how the accident happened but “nothing points to a technical or human failure,” Juen said.
The operator said no irregularities had been noticed during a test run of the facility early Tuesday. The weather at the time of the accident wasn’t windy.
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