Children among 8 hurt in Maine ski-lift accident

Associated Press

CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine

A 35-year-old chair lift set for improvements failed Tuesday in high winds at a Maine resort, sending skiers — some of them children — plummeting into ungroomed snow far below that fell with the Northeast’s recent blizzard and softened the landing.

At least eight people, the children among them, were taken to a hospital after the double-chair lift at Sugarloaf derailed during a busy vacation week at the resort 120 miles north of Portland. Dozens of skiers remained on the crippled lift for an hour or more until patrols could get them down.

The resort was not operating the failed lift and two others early in the day because of winds but deemed them safe to use before the accident at 10:15 a.m., said Ethan Austin, spokesman for Sugarloaf. The resort said the cable that supports the chairs jumped off track, though the exact cause of the failure is being investigated. Wind were gusting at 40 mph at the time.

The resort said the lift, which went into service in 1975 and recently passed an inspection, was set for upgrades or repairs but declined to specify when. About five chairs fell 25 to 30 feet onto a ski trail below, officials said.

There could have been as few as 50 people or as many as 160 on the lift at the time, according to Sugarloaf, owned by Boyne Falls, Mich.-based Boyne Resorts. Sugarloaf workers used a pulleylike system to lower skiers to safety.

Jill Gray, a spokeswoman for Franklin Memorial Hospital about in Farmington, 45 miles away, said eight adults and children were taken there but did not give details on the injuries. One of the injured was flown on to Maine Medical Center in Portland, she said.

It’s unclear whether the accident was wind-related or mechanical. Because of its position on the face of the mountain, the lift that failed is more vulnerable to being shut down because of high winds, said Austin, the resort spokesman.