How is the cable car in the ski resort. Take care of yourself: the most common accidents at resorts

Exactly 27 years ago, a tragedy occurred on the Mtatsminda cable car, which claimed 19 lives, 42 people were seriously injured. Most of them were children, including students of Akhaltsikhe school No. 5, who came on an excursion to Mtatsminda Park on International Children's Day.

Before getting acquainted with the stories of eyewitnesses of this tragedy, let's restore the chronology of the fateful day.

On June 1, at 15:15, a cable unexpectedly broke on the Tbilisi Mtatsminda cable car, and two gondolas suspended in parallel were left without fastening. One of the cabins, which was closer to the lower station, hit the wall, as a result of which several people were injured at once. The upper cabin began to pick up speed rapidly and crashed into a twisted lifting cable. The blow was so strong that the gondola split in two. From a height of about 20 meters, people fell onto the roof and into the courtyard of a six-story building. Some passengers jumped out of the cabin in a panic even before the collision.

Two years before the tragedy, in 1988, cable car was reconstructed according to the project of engineer Vakhtang Lezhava. According to the project, instead of three support towers, two were left, after which the 20-meter lower tower was replaced with a 25-meter one. The new rectangular gondolas produced by an Italian company were designed for 40 people. The change of the old cabins occurred from the considerations that there were always long queues on the cable car, and new, more spacious cabins could alleviate this problem ... At the time of the tragedy, there were 46 passengers in the lower gondola, and 47 in the upper one ...

A specially created commission called the breakage of the hoist rope and the problems of the fastening device as the cause of the accident, although the final report does not contain a document on the reason why the hoist rope fell out of the cabin coupling.

On the next anniversary of this tragic day, Sputnik Georgia found eyewitnesses who spoke about what they saw and experienced.

Batumi actress Iya Gogiberidze visited her aunt in Tbilisi on June 1. After this incident, she developed a fear closed space and heights.

“On the first of June, my friend and I went to the funicular ... I will never forget that day! Do you know how it was? We were at the top and were going to go down. will be freer. Suddenly, a wall collapsed behind us. We did not understand what was happening ... A terrible tragedy unfolded before our eyes. Screams, screams, crying were heard ... People seemed to have gone crazy, "Iya said.

Her most terrible memory of the tragedy is associated with twin children.

"I especially remember the twins - two little beauties who walked in the Mtatsminda park with their grandmother. The girls were in the center of attention, everyone spoke to them, caressed ... It's terrible that there was not enough space in that ill-fated cabin, and we gave it to the twins ... Completely distraught from what had happened, we finally reached the city on foot and hurried to the telephone booths to call home and tell us that we were alive. And before that, everyone went to the church…", shared Iya.

Tbilisi resident, fitness instructor David Ratiani was on the cable car that day with the child of relatives. After that day, he developed serious health problems.

“That nightmare is remembered as slow-motion footage. At the time of the accident, I was in the cab, going upstairs. I remember when this happened, the conductor started shouting for us to lie on the floor, but I didn’t understand the point of doing this. He began to lower the cab brake, but what's the use of it?! It was out of order. The trailer was full... Unfortunately, the child who was with me died. I had problems with my spine," David shared his memories.

He called the incident a sabotage.

"It gave the impression that new system It was set up wrong on purpose. In addition, the new cars were larger than the old ones, and the cable was left the same. So, naturally, the old cable could not withstand the increased load. This story is still incomprehensible to this day ... Many assumptions have been made, but I still believe that it was a sabotage, and this version seems to me the most convincing and plausible, "said David.

At the same time, he stressed that after the accident, the victims seemed to be specially alienated from each other so that they could not communicate.

Tamriko Mamikonyan, a resident of Tbilisi, was on Rustaveli Avenue at the time of the tragedy, along with a neighbor's child, standing in line for tickets for the cable car.

"There were always queues on the cable car. However, on this day - International Children's Day - it was especially crowded, and various events were held in Mtatsminda Park. I was 19 years old then. I took a neighbor's child to Mtatsminda Park. It was about 2-3 hours days. Summer, heat. We stood in a huge queue for tickets at the bottom of the cable car to Rustaveli. I remember I counted the people and told the child that "this one will go, come back and we will go on the third" ... After a while we heard noise. Screaming, panic began. They said that the cable car fell down, the cable broke. The police immediately arrived. Ambulance crews arrived. I saw broken cables. We were all taken out of there, and the doors were closed, they were no longer allowed inside. I was shaking from fright, " Tamriko said.

The cables were said to be old. Another version was expressed that the booths were overloaded, but she considers this unlikely.

“After this incident, I didn’t even go down to the subway…,” Tamriko shared.

Alesya Sverchkova was then 9 years old, and she watched the tragedy from the balcony of her house.

"I was 9 years old ... A terrible childhood memory. And now - I remember, and everything inside is trembling ...", she shared.

It all happened, as she said, on a "wonderful, fine day."

"Me, my brother and dad were sitting on the balcony. Suddenly, a terrible roar was heard, a cable car cabin flew before our eyes and crashed into the station. It was the trailer that went down. It was crowded with passengers! the one that was heading down, and it was torn in two. People fell on the roofs along with this huge half of the cabin. Screams, horror! ... Dad sends for a camera, but I froze in shock ... I see: the rest of the cabin is swinging, there are two in it, then there are three children, they scream for help, cry ... Dad is already at the scene of the tragedy. We are alone with my brother in a daze, horrified by what is happening ... ", Alesya said.

After suffering childhood stress, she avoids not only the cable car, but also the elevators.

“All my life I remember this day, the children in that dangling split cabin. It’s still scary ... After this incident, I and the cable car (elevators, planes ...) are incompatible. Walking is calmer,” Alesya said.

A native of Tbilisi, Inga Adams-Poganik, who lives in the United States, was in the hospital that day.

“My child, who was very young then, had just had an operation, and we were in the Dighomi hospital. It was hot, there were no air conditioners in the hospital at that time. on a fateful day in the hospital, a terrible cry suddenly arose, the yard was filled with people, the victims were being transported along the corridor, nurses were running around, urgently preparing operating rooms. At first we did not know what was happening, but it was very scary. Then someone brought the news that the cable car had broken …", - Inga shared her memories.

The ward doctor, who she remembered as a wonderful young doctor, was on duty that day and spent the whole night in the operating room.

“He came out for a short time, tired and pale, sat down in the corridor for 10 minutes and again went to the operating room. My roommate and I (we were 25-26 years old) tried to help him somehow. But what could we do? what was in our power was to brew coffee for him and all the medical staff all night long in order to somehow cheer them up. I will never forget that doctor's eyes - red from overwork and a sleepless night ... The doctors fought together to the last for the life of each patient ... " Inga said.

Years later, they decided to restore the cable car. The Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi, Irakli Lekvinadze, spoke about the stage at which the restoration work is now at Sputnik Georgia.

"The decision that the cable car Mtatsminda-Rustaveli Avenue will start functioning, of course, has already been made. The Tbilisi City Hall, together with one of the partner companies and Mtatsminda Park, has already begun work on the project. Initially, the location was changed, and it is from the territory in front of the Radisson" moved to the rear territory of the building of the Academy of Sciences, where historically it was located. The technology itself, by which the cable car should be controlled, is very modern, "Lekinadze said.

The equipment for the new cable car was purchased by the Doppel Mayer company, it is stored in its own warehouse. To date, preparatory work is underway at the upper and lower stations.

Height - someone loves it, someone hates it. But you will have to fight her fear if you really admire her. standing views you chose the cable car as your mode of transportation. First introduced in the 1920s, cable cars became great way see incredible views. Although the cable car is considered the safest "modern" mode of transportation, there have been cases of unpleasant fatal accidents, including cases of natural disasters. One feeling that you are riding in a trailer suspended on a cable is already unforgettable, and riding a cable car through darkness or fog is a real attraction with elements of a horror movie. But for those who are terrified of heights, perhaps when fog or ice covers the cabin, maybe this is for the best? Whether you love heights or hate, we bring to your attention a couple of dozen photos unforgettable trips on the cable car.

(Total 29 photos)

1. Scary cable car in Langkawi, Malaysia. (Farhana Haque)

2. Cable car in Langkawi. View from above. This is the same place as in photo #1. (Andrew Lawson)

3. Little girl on glass floor trailer in the Ngong Ping booth. Under the feet of tourists through the glass floor open amazing views to Lantau Island in Hong Kong. Until recently, the only way to get to some attractions was Mountain road. (jayneandd)

4. Kayaks in Tang Chang Bay, view through the glass floor of the cabin on the cable car. The cable car is supported by eight towers. The trailer contains 10 seats and 7 standing. The throughput of the system is 3,500 people per hour in each direction. (Paulo Ordoveza)

5. Accident on the aforementioned cable car. The accident happened in June 2007. There was no one in the cab, it was a test run of a trailer that fell in a mountainous area. (Dennis Y.C. Wong)

6. Trailers in Grenoble, France. Grenoble is a city great history and culture, and one of the attractions of the city "Les Bulles" - egg-shaped cable cars for 4-5 passengers. (theilr)

7. Meanwhile in Singapore…. Sunset over Sentosa with cable car ropes at the top. (William Cho)

8. Cable car in Switzerland. (Michele M.F.)

9. Cable car in St. Anton, Austria. (Thomas Tolkien)

10. Cable car in China. This park is full of sandstone karst columns, and the park itself is covered tropical forests. Very often the park is shrouded in fog, which makes the landscapes mysterious, but creepy. (John Philip)

11. Glass cable car at the peak of Rio de Janeiro. Mountain sugar loaf in the background on the right and the beach of Botafogo. This mountain is one of several granite and quartz monoliths that emerge right from the water's edge around Rio de Janeiro. The glass-walled trailer accommodates 75 passengers, and the cabin itself runs along the 1,400-meter route between the Sugarloaf and Cara de Cao peaks every half hour. The original cable car was built in 1912. Sugar Loaf Mountain is practically a symbol of Rio de Janeiro, one has only to see it in a movie, it is immediately clear in which country the action takes place. (Rodrigo Soldon)

12. Sugar loaf. The same place, only during the day. If you're ever in Rio, don't miss the chance to visit Sugarloaf Mountain. (P-A-S)

13. Xiamen. From the top of the mountain on Gulangyu Island, there is a great view. You can climb up both on your own and with the help of a cable car. Although many first climb, and only then they find out that, it turns out, a cable car works here. (Jakob Montrasio)

14. At sunset. (Christia)

15. Grindelwald-Mannlichen cable car in Switzerland. This is the third longest passenger cable car in the world. (Simon Aughton)

16. View of Mount Tianmen from high altitude. (MetaFilter)

17. Cable car in Valley Blanche. Another accident occurred in August 1961. A military aircraft tore the cable car on Mont Blanc. Six people died. (Xraver)

18. Hoher-Kasten, Switzerland. This mountain belongs to the Alpstein district and can be reached by cable car from Brülisau. In May 2008, a new revolving restaurant opened at the summit. (Kecko)

19. Liner "Star Virgo" in the harbor of Singapore, and above it - a cable car with tourists to the Sentos Islands. (William Cho)

20. Cable car connecting Pavillon and Turin Ref, Italy. The car park can be reached by cable car from the first station called La Palud. (Giorgio Ravera)

21. Snow blows off the top of Scuo Valley. In April 1978, there was an accident during a hurricane, when two ropes of the road in California broke away from the tower. One of the cables damaged the cab, killing 4 people and injuring 32. (Rennett Stowe) #

There were problems with lifts in Georgian Gudauri before

11 people were injured: the failed mechanism became a real meat grinder. According to eyewitnesses, the cable car stopped abruptly, and then began to move back, picking up speed. At some point, one of the seats crashed into a support and became an obstacle to the rest of the gondolas. As a result of sitting with people who did not have time to jump, they began to crash into each other. Injuries, including fractures, were received by four Russians.

"MK" spoke with eyewitnesses, found out how the lift worked in the last months before the accident, and what could have caused the disaster.

Anna Guseva was lucky - she was not among those 11 people who really suffered. But she hung on the lift for 2 hours in the company of three of the same passengers - men from Ukraine, Russia and Austria. According to her, when there were about 50 meters left to the top, the seat stopped, hung for 30 seconds, and then began to move back. At first, when the speed was low, it seemed funny.

“Our seat has developed more and more great speed, many panicked. shouts were heard everywhere, “Jump, there’s hell, jumpaaayyyttteee,” the MK girl said. “We were lucky that at the time of the tragedy we were almost at the top, so we rolled back to about the middle of the mountain. Those who were lower were much less fortunate : there were screams of those who were nearby, those who were injured and those who remained in the booths. Everyone was shouting. Then the downward movement abruptly stopped.

We, turning back, saw how the people who had jumped were crawling to the descent, either with bruises or with fractures. After about 15 minutes, a rescuer drove by on a snowmobile and told us not to worry: the worst is behind us. First they'll take care of the wounded below, and then they'll bring us down. The panic subsided a little, the guys from the next booth, the Ukrainians, said that they had arrived big group, 40 people, and many of those below were from their group. According to them, one girl died (later the policeman denied this information) and a lot of wounded - they say, there is a mess. About an hour later, the rescue operation began. At the same time, from the top of the mountain and from the foot, two groups of rescuers began to remove people with ropes. They got to us a little more more than an hour. I want to note the dedication of the police and rescuers, it was clear that they did everything they could.

One of them went upstairs and on his hands began to pull himself along the cable towards our booth. Although he had insurance, the height there was decent, and he, having set out the instructions in detail, threw me a lifeline, which I had to wrap around.

At this time, two rescuers from below pulled me and helped me to descend smoothly. At the same time, people who had already been rescued and other rescuers removed abandoned equipment, sticks, boards, so that no one would stumble during the descent, many climbed the mountain on their own, it was very difficult to do this in meter-long snow. When they let me down, I walked about 500 meters on my own, then a policeman on a snowmobile picked me up and took me to the foot. At the same time, I saw how the victims were carried away on stretchers to ambulances, many were crying. I can’t say what is happening there now, because the weather deteriorated badly in about an hour, visibility dropped to 50 meters, heavy snow began to fall.”

According to those who have rested in Gudauri before, there were problems with the cable car before.

“In March, we rested there with my family for 5 days, during this time the lifts did not work even once,” writes user Viktor on social networks.

“We rested for 10 days in February, the cable cars worked, but once the gondola braked very sharply, the seats dangled several meters apart in different directions,” says another tourist.

“Today, 03/11/2018, there is again a problem with the lifts. The worst thing is that no one can tell what's going on - neither the police nor the staff. People rush between the ski lifts, as best they can, some pay snowmobilers. Why is the administration silent and does not even notify people what is happening at the resort, or are they not aware of it either?” other users ask.

One user, who probably witnessed the moment of the accident, describes what is happening as follows: “The cable car stopped. Then the Georgian came out of the booth and said that he would not go any more, we just turned around and went beyond the nets, when they released the brake and under the weight it all went down. Since this lift was supposed to open yesterday and only opened today, there is a suspicion that they never properly serviced it. ”

While there is no official investigation, it is pointless to talk about the reasons themselves, - one of the experts of the company servicing the cable cars anonymously told MK, - But we can assume three versions. The first is a power outage. However, as I have already heard, they stated that there were no voltage drops in this section. The second option is brake failure. For some reason, they could be torn off. There should be a normal closed brake, which, when de-energized, would block the ram of the winch itself so that it would not move. For some reason (perhaps quality of service), the brake did not close. As a result, since there were no people on the descent and the climbing branch was harder, the seats under their own load went down. The third option - if the brakes were in good condition, then the axle that connected the winch drum and the engine could break. In this case, even with the electricity turned off, the winch will spin until it stops itself.

It is known that this cable car was produced by an Austrian-Swiss company, not previously seen in similar incidents. The road was checked in December last year, and recognized as fully serviceable, issuing the appropriate certificate. The director of the company that issued the document has already told the media that the cause of the accident could indeed be a damaged brake mechanism.

Representative subsidiary in Russia, in turn, said that it was not the brakes. According to him, since the road was able to stop, then the brakes definitely worked. What caused her reverse movement, he did not specify.

Read the material: An eyewitness about the cause of the lift accident in Gudauri: “They changed the electronic board”

Five Creepy Cases When a Lift Ride Turned into a Nightmare

Five creepy incidents
when the lift ride
turned into a nightmare

You may not have guessed, but avalanches, off-piste or park injuries, and alcohol poisoning are far from the only dangers that threaten you in ski resorts. You don’t even have to come up with anything new like legends about the yeti, a black skier and aliens stealing snowboarders right from the slopes; history knows many terrible cases when nothing foreshadowed trouble, but a trip to the mountains turned into a nightmare.

Frame from the film "Frozen", kinopoisk.ru

Although ropeway construction technologies are rapidly improving every year, there is always the possibility of accidents. The statistics of accidents on lifts over the 70-year history is updated annually with new incidents in which people suffer and die a large number of of people. We chose five creepy and, unfortunately, real stories, which occurred on the ski lifts, in comparison with which the plot of the film "Frozen" will seem insignificant.

White Valley

A cable car cable breakage is a rather rare phenomenon in itself, but history knows several terrible cases when, for various reasons, this did happen. Surprisingly, sometimes the culprits of the accident are not engineers, but representatives of the air force. In 1961, one of the sections of the Belaya Dolina cable car, connecting the French side of Mont Blanc with the Italian side, caught a French F-84F fighter with its wing. As a result of the collapse of three cabins, 6 people died, another 80 people hovered over the slope and waited for rescue for almost a day. The plane, meanwhile, landed safely at the airfield, and its pilot, who did not suffer any punishment, later took up a senior position at Airbus.

survivor

Engineering miscalculations, violation of operating rules, anomalous weather- all these ingredients put together can turn into an infernal mixture. In 1976 in Dolomites on Italian resort Cavalese cableway broke, causing the cabin with 44 passengers to fall from a height of 200 meters and a few hundred meters rolled down the slope. It is surprising that rescuers found a survivor among the passengers - she turned out to be 14-year-old Italian, Alexandra Piovesana.

Photo: andregovia @ flickr.com

Jet thrust

The fighter jet, passing at a speed of 870 km/h over the resort, cut the cable car cable with its wing.

22 years after the accident at Cavalese, public attention was again riveted to the ill-fated resort. This time, the unfortunate place was brought into disrepute by a US Air Force pilot, Richard Ashby, and his navigator, Joseph Schweitzer. On February 3, 1998, a fighter jet descending to a prohibited height, passing at a speed of 870 km / h over the resort, cut the cable car cable with its wing, as a result of which twenty people died. The plane, as in the collision in the White Valley, landed safely at its base, located nearby. During the trial, the charge of manslaughter of 20 people from the pilots was dropped. One piece of evidence was an allegedly outdated map that did not show the lifts.

fire trap

The last thing you can think of in the land of snow and ice is fire. But, unfortunately, phrases like "faulty electrical appliances" sometimes appear in terrible news with ski slopes. In 2005 on Austrian resort Kaprun, a fire broke out in the main cabin of a surface train-funicular, caused by a malfunction of the heating system. The accident occurred exactly at the moment when the train with 167 passengers entered the tunnel passing under the mountain. terrible consequences could have been avoided, but due to the failure of the emergency door opening system, the lack of fire extinguishing equipment and the illiterate actions of the resort staff, 155 people burned alive in a matter of minutes.

Photo: jimmydspics @ flickr.com

Heavy load

History proves that avalanches, heavy winds and fighter jets are far from the only thing that can threaten lift passengers. In 2005, on the Rettenbach glacier, not far from Sölden, a concrete block weighing almost a ton fell onto the cable car from a helicopter transporting building materials. As a result of the failure of two cabins, nine people were killed and another ten were seriously injured.

Photo: charliejoephotography @ flickr.com

We hope that this selection will not discourage you from visiting foreign ski resorts, but will only add to the list scary stories told by the fire to friends. Do not become paranoid, but do not forget about your inner instinct. All health and good luck!

On ski resort Gudauri (Georgia) injured at least 12 people. This was reported by the publication.

Eyewitnesses of the incident said that the chairs rolled down the cable car and crashed into each other, people fell from a height into the snow. Some tried to jump off the lift themselves.

Minister of Health of Georgia David Sergeenko said that two tourists from Russia, two citizens of Ukraine, one from Sweden and one citizen of Georgia were seriously injured.

There are seven people in the local clinic, their condition is not serious, he said.

The Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine noted that doctors diagnosed the Ukrainian with a broken arm and wounds on his head.

Mash Telegram channel subscribers Anton and Katya ended up on the same lift and talked about what happened:

Anton: We hung on this lift, already halfway up the cable car. He stopped very abruptly and flew down. The speed was very high, I did not even think that the cable car could go so fast. Somewhere in 70-100 meters he stopped very abruptly. We did not understand what had happened, we only heard screams.

Kate: On the chair that was riding behind, the guys began to radio over the radio that six lifts had crashed into each other, that there were a lot of victims and we would not be filmed until everyone was taken out of there. We hung around for about an hour and a half, then the rescuers arrived and started filming everyone one by one.

Anton: Yes, we filmed with a rope, but everything was quite fast and good. We did not see the wounded, they were quickly taken away. The snowplows arrived fairly quickly.

Kate: AND Rescuers also arrived very quickly.

SnowLab Gudauri freeride instructor Rustam Ibragimov was also on the broken lift:

Rustam: I can't give reasons. I know for sure that two stops did not work. This, as I understand it, there was such a situation once in Bukovel, somewhere else. I myself was on the cable car, and people, I don't know, this is a "fireworks", "rain" of people. People jumped off the cable cars from ten meters. Including those who were afraid to jump, they were twisted right where the lower station was, they were thrown in different directions. I helped with rescue work. There appear to be no deaths. I do not know yet. But a large number of victims there, 15 people for sure.

According to preliminary data, the reason was a power outage on the cable car.

Maxim Pankov, an employee of the avalanche service of the Gornaya Karusel ski resort, said that for some unknown reason the brakes did not work.

In the same place, it turns out, people rise in one direction, and in the other direction - a pendulum cable car - empty chairs go. Accordingly, there is a counterbalance. More weight on one side, less weight on the other. With, say, such a reverse, the brake should have worked, which stops the downward movement with the suspension. The brake, apparently, did not work or did not hold. And turning off the power, as it were, does not guarantee, that is, it is possible to stop the cable car, but, as you understand, how the scales all work. On the one hand, more cargo, on the other hand, less. Accordingly, the cable car went down with a suspension of people. I can’t imagine any other malfunctions anymore,” he clarified.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development of Georgia, the Development Company mountain resorts"has already contacted the Doppelmayr company, which manufactures these cable cars, so that an immediate response to the fact takes place and that they send experts to determine the cause of the accident. It is noted that the company is ready to reimburse all costs for the treatment of the victims.

Meanwhile, the Energo Pro-Georgia company denied the information that the cable car accident could have been caused by a power outage, they told reporters that there was "no emergency power outage or change in voltage parameters" at the Gudauri resort. In connection with the incident, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia launched an investigation under Article 275 of the Criminal Code of Georgia "violation of traffic safety rules or operation of railway, air or suspended transport."