Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Vienna, Jan 7, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Skiing could be fun only if you know where you are starting from and where you are going to end. However, it could turn out to be a nightmare otherwise. Something exactly like this took place in western Austria. Skiers had no clue that they would experience something as bitter as this. Around 160 skiers were stuck in a faulty chairlift in the western part of the country and being in snow for so long was something beyond their imagination considering the fact that they went out to enjoy themselves.

Helicopters and emergency crews were sent to rescue the 160 skiers and snowboarders in western Austria after a chairlift developed a defect. This incident took place in the Gruenau-Kaesberg ski area. Majority of the trapped skiers were rescued by the emergency crews by winching them down to the ground. However, 17 people had to be tied by cables and lifted out by helicopters due to the rugged and inaccessible terrain below. The rescue crews were called into the Gruenau-Kaesberg ski area on Wednesday after one chairlift came to a halt. Officials reported that no one was hurt during the rescue operation but a number of people had to be treated for shock owing to the incident.

According to police reports, all the rescued skiers remain uninjured. However, the shock of the accident was enough to make them go through a trauma. Special care is being taken to find out any other defect that might be present in the chairlifts so that such mishap can be avoided. Austrian officials are looking into the problem to ensure that in future the skiers do not confront the same kind of bitter experience.