A gondola unhooks and rolls down the slope at a Swiss ski resort, killing one person

Terrible tragedy in Switzerland. This Wednesday morning, a gondola came loose from its cable in the ski resort of Engelberg-Titlis (central Switzerland), killing its passenger. “She rolled over several times. At the time of the accident, only one person was on board. She succumbed to her injuries,” Nidwalden canton police official Senad Sakic told the press.

According to police, the accident happened around 11:30 a.m. Images broadcast by several Swiss media show the gondola module sliding down a snowy slope after coming loose from the lift cable. The police, who opened an investigation to elucidate the causes of the accident, did not specify whether the weather conditions were to blame, while the region was swept Wednesday morning by strong winds exceeding 90 km/h, according to Meteo Suisse.

Several skiers remained stranded Wednesday afternoon in other modules of the lift, police said, adding that evacuation operations were underway. Most of the resort’s lifts were closed due to gusts.

The Engelberg-Titlis ski area, in the small canton of Nidwalden, is particularly known for its glacier peaking at an altitude of more than 3,000 m. The resort has 37 ski lifts on 33 hectares of slopes.