1 dead in Swiss chair lift accident

A chairlift accident near the Swiss ski resort of Grindelwald killed one person and injured several others Thursday.

It wasn't immediately certain what caused several chairs carrying skiers to fall to the ground. But the official in charge of the investigation said a cable appeared to have jumped off a guide wheel at one of the chair lift's support towers that rise up to 46 feet from the slopes.

"The cable slipped at one of the masts, and the chairs fell down," Joseph Zeder of the independent investigation bureau for railway, funicular and boat accidents, told The Associated Press.

A German man died and a German woman suffered serious injuries in the accident, according to Jungfraubahnen Interlaken, the company that operates the lift.

Several other people received minor injuries, including two Australians who required medical treatment, the company said.

The 75 passengers who remained on the chairlift had to be evacuated, according to mountain rescue officials.

The national weather center said winds reached speeds of 56 miles per hour when the accident occurred at about 1 p.m. on the Kleine-Scheidegg pass above Grindelwald, one of Switzerland's best-known tourist destinations.

About 40 miles southeast of the capital, Bern, the town and its surrounding mountains — which include the imposing Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau peaks — draw tens of thousands of visitors each year.

The accident was the worst of its kind in Switzerland since December 1999, when strong winds caused a tree to topple onto a gondola car, killing two people and injuring three.