Man killed, woman injured in crash involving gondola at popular Canadian ski resort
A man was killed and a woman was critically injured when both were thrown from a sightseeing gondola Sunday at a popular resort near Montreal in Canada, authorities said.
The crash occurred around 11:30 a.m. when a piece of construction equipment struck a panoramic gondola occupied by two Ontario tourists at the Mont-Tremblant Ski Resort, Quebec provincial police confirmed to Paste BN. Located in Quebec's Laurentian Mountains, the resort is about 80 miles northwest of Montreal, the largest city of Canada's Quebec province.
The force of the impact knocked the passengers, both in their 50s, from the gondola and sent them plummeting to the ground, said Sgt. Audrey-Anne Bilodeau. The man was killed, while the woman has been taken to a Montreal-area hospital with life-threatening injuries.
A statement provided to Paste BN from the resort association confirmed the fatal crash and said that activities at the mountain have been suspended. The association also said the incident involved construction machinery operated by a third party.
“We are saddened by this situation and Station Mont Tremblant offers its most sincere condolences to all those involved," Annique Aird, Mont Tremblant's vice-president of sales, marketing and communications, said in the statement.
The resort said in a post on Facebook that other activities on the mountain, including the remainder of a blues festival, were canceled due to the incident.
Quebec's Tourism Minister Caroline Proulx said on Twitter that she is monitoring the situation closely.
Investigators from the major crimes division remained at the resort Monday morning interviewing witnesses and inspecting the drilling machine, Bilodeau said. The cause of the crash has not been determined. Bilodeau said the drilling machine's operator has yet to be interviewed after he was treated at the hospital for being in shock.
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for Paste BN. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @EricLagatta.