At least 10 injured, dozens rescued in partial collapse of Blackcomb gondola tower

At least 10 people were injured and crews rescued dozens of passengers trapped inside gondola cabins after a gondola tower partially collapsed at the base of Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler, B.C., police said Tuesday.

In a news release issued Tuesday night, Whistler RCMP said 10 people were taken to a Whistler clinic following the rescue, all with non-life-threatening injuries.

The B.C. Ambulance Service had told CBC News on Tuesday afternoon that one person was to be transported to a Vancouver hospital.

RCMP Sgt. Steve Wright said the accident took place on the Excalibur Gondola around 2:30 p.m. near Fitzsimmons Creek.

"No gondolas have fallen. It's just the tower has collapsed partially. The line has sagged," Wright said on Tuesday afternoon.

The Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort issued a statement saying a "structural failure on Tower 4 on Blackcomb Mountain's Excalibur Gondola caused the gondola to cease operation. No gondola cabins came off the line."

"The cause of the incident is unknown at this time and will be investigated; however, the immediate priority has been to secure the tower and evacuate guests."

Vince Shuley said he was shaken when the gondola cabin he was travelling in hit the ground twice.

"On the third emergency stop we felt, all of a sudden, the gondola swung and then it started to fall and that's when all of us in the cabin were thrown around against each other," Shuley told CBC News Tuesday night.

"The gondola bounced down, hit the ground, then up again and then hit the ground for the second time before it settled down," he said.

"We were about three feet off the ground, I think, in amongst some houses just next to some trees," he said.

Shuley said the people inside "jumped out onto the snow" as quickly as they could.

Michael Trick, who was also inside one of the three cars, said a few people inside suffered scrapes and bruises.

"We are riding down the gondola. All of a sudden we are a big pile in the middle of the gondola [cabin] rolling down the hill," he told CBC News.

"I remember pulling my legs inside the gondola, afraid they were going to get kind of trapped underneath.… As soon as it stopped moving, we all kind of panicked, jumped out and tried to collect our gear," he said.

The Excalibur Gondola, built in 1994, has an upper and lower section. The failed tower is on the lower section and has since been secured by a crane, a statement from the ski resort said. The gondola runs from Whistler Village up Blackcomb Mountain and most of its towers are on the mountain.

The upper section of the gondola, which is independent of the lower section, was unaffected by the incident but was cleared immediately of guests by normal procedure, the resort news release said.

Police said a dozen people were trapped in the three gondola cars directly affected by the partial collapse of the tower.

Witnesses told CBC News two of the cars fell about 20 metres after the supporting beam of the tower snapped. One landed on top of a bus shelter, while the other was left hanging about five metres above Fitzsimmons Creek.

The third one swung and hit one of the condominiums at the bottom of the hill, causing minor damage to the condo, witnesses said.

The gondolas in the section where the failure occurred are about nine metres above the ground.

Wright said about 30 gondola cars along the route that weren't directly affected by the tower failure still had to be evacuated by firefighters and the ski patrol.

Each gondola cabin holds eight people, and Wright said there were four to eight people in each of the stranded cars.

A total of as many as 100 people were taken out of the gondolas, police said.

The ski resort said 53 guests were evacuated from the lower section of the gondola, and the evacuation was completed by 6:30 p.m. PT.

The gondola undergoes an extensive safety check every year by the B.C. Safety Authority, and the last check was done within the past six months, the Blackcomb statement said.

A full investigation by Whistler Blackcomb and the B.C. Safety Authority is underway, the statement said.

Joanna Fitzpatrick, who was at the scene, told CBC News in the afternoon that firefighters were using ladders to try to get people down.

"There's one gondola hanging over the river, and there's another gondola that is sitting on top of one of the bus stops," she told CBC News by telephone.