An eight-year-old boy has been airlifted to hospital after falling from a ski lift at the Sierra-at-Tahoe resort in California over the weekend, authorities said.
The Lake Valley Fire Protection District said in a media release that the boy fell about 30 feet from the Grandview chairlift at the resort at about 1:20 p.m. local time on Sunday.
“Lake Valley Fire Protection District Battalion 7 and Medic 7 responded to Sierra-at-Tahoe Marmot Landing Zone and arrived alongside CALSTAR Air Medical Services. Because of the patient’s age and the distance of the fall, air transport was requested,” the release said.
“Ski patrol responded immediately, provided first aid and transported the child to the landing zone,” the release added. “Paramedics with Medic 7 and Battalion 7 from Lake Valley Fire Protection District, and CALSTAR 6 flight nurses, determined immediate transport to Renown Regional Medical Center based on mechanism for injury.”
Officials said that the boy’s condition is currently unknown and his identity has not been revealed.
A resort spokesperson told South Tahoe Now that the fall occurred near the top terminal of the ski lift.
The incident comes weeks after the death of a 13-year-old Ottawa girl, who had sustained serious injuries on a Quebec ski lift during a school outing.
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Sgt. Martin Fournel, a spokesperson for the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais, said in that incident, the student was riding a chairlift alone on Feb. 11 at the Centre Vorlage resort near Wakefield, Que., about 30 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.
“The girl was alone on the chairlift. She had almost reached the summit and when it came time to get off, a piece of clothing got caught in the chair; the 13-year-old girl got tangled up in the chair and so wasn’t touching the ground,” Fournel said.
“No one got there quickly enough to get her out of that sad situation. I’ll spare you some of the details, but at one point, there was a decision to reactivate the lift and bring the girl back down to the bottom of the hill, where our officers and first responders took over.”
The girl’s family confirmed her death on Feb. 15 in a statement released by the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.
“We would like to extend our love to all of those affected by this terrible tragedy,” the family said. “We are also grateful for everyone who took heroic action to help save our precious child.”
The Centre Vorlage resort temporarily closed after the incident and said in a statement last month that it was “deeply saddened by this loss.”
The resort began a gradual return to operations the week following her death.
“Safety remains an absolute priority for our entire team, and the resort will continue its efforts to ensure a careful and respectful return to normal operations for everyone affected by this tragic accident,” the resort said.
The resort said it is co-operating with police as the investigation continues.
Fatal lift accidents at ski areas are relatively rare, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Between 1956 and 2024, 35 people died in accidents involving chairlifts and aerial ropeways. Sixteen of the deaths were linked to mechanical malfunctions, according to data collected by the group.
—With files from Global News’ Prisha Dev and The Canadian Press
More of this story is about Vorlage than the California incident. Garbage journalism…
We had DNA at that resort last week… Yikies