At least eight people were injured when a chair lift at a Georgia ski resort malfunctioned and sent riders hurtling backward, according to a Georgian media outlet.
Videos of the terrifying scene at Georgia’s Gudauri resort surfaced online in the hours after the incident. Lift riders who didn’t jump off the lift as it approached the base of the hill are thrown off their chairs as they fly around the turn at much faster-than-normal speeds.
The metal chairs crashed into a pile at the point where skiers would typically board the lift.
Russia’s Pravda Report said the malfunction was due to the “negligence of chairlift workers” who caused the lift to operate in reverse.
Knyshov Peter, a Ukrainian native who apparently witnessed the malfunction, posted a video of the mayhem in a public Facebook post.
“Numerous injuries to people who fell under the ‘meat grinder’ from the collapsing chairs, fractures and bruises to those who had time or thought to jump off,” reads his post, roughly-translated to English.
The injuries were not believed to be serious, according to Georgia Today. Still, the video isn’t for the faint of heart, Peter wrote.
Skiers, good luck getting back on the slopes after watching the horror unfold.
