Scotsman – News in brief- 14.07.06
A cable car fell 30ft to the ground yesterday, at the Nevis Range
mountain resort, seriously injuring four adults and a three-year-old girl, sparking a major rescue operation. The accident occurred around 3.30pm, when a cable car returning from the top of the gondola system on Aonach Mor failed to function about 500m from the station. It was forced forwards, crashing into the car in front before derailing and smashing to the ground below.
There were five people injured - a family of three, including a three-year-old girl and also a 52-year-old man and his 24-year-old son from Totness in Devon. Witnesses have spoken of seeing people falling out of the car as it fell. The five casualties were airlifted to Belford Hospital in Fort William. It is believed that injuries included spinal and chest injuries and at least two had broken legs.
The system was halted after the accident and 25 people were stranded in the gondola cars for up to four hours unaware of what had happened. RAF, Royal Navy, air ambulance and
mountain rescue teams, battled high winds to rescue a further 40 people who were left at the top station, while ten others made their own way down the mountain.
Lift operators have promised an immediate
investigation but as yet the cause of the car malfunction is not known.A Nevis Range spokesman said: "Casualties were treated at the scene by emergency services and were airlifted by the mountain rescue services to hospital. All casualties are conscious. A full investigation into the cause of the derail will follow." At Belford Hospital a spokeswoman said two of the casualties sustained chest injuries while a third sustained spinal injuries after falling from the car.
Early indications suggest wind may have been a factor in the accident according to Mike Mulford, an RAF spokesman. He said: "We are talking about
up to 4,000ft up, so the wind is a clear possibility as a factor. It may, and I stress may, have been a factor in the collision between the gondolas, which in my experience is simply unknown."
An eyewitness, Claire Mason, 25, from Edinburgh said that she had been walking within 200 metres of the gondola that fell to the ground. "I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was one of the gondolas falling from the wire to the ground. It fell about 30 to 40 feet. I saw one person being thrown out of the gondola as it fell. It was a horrifying sight. I could hear some screams from one young girl, which was pretty distressing. It was absolutely awful. I was in absolute disbelief at what I was seeing." Paul Gordon her boyfriend, said: "We were walking back down and I looked across and saw what looked like someone jumping from a gondola. But then I realised he was falling. The gondola was falling to the ground at the same time and I ran across. There was quite a bit of devastation."
For Aonach Mor, which operates Britain's only mountain cable car, this is not the first derailment of a gondola. The lift opened in December 1989, and less than a week later a carriage plunged 20ft to the ground when it was knocked off the cable by a gust of wind.
Police chiefs signalled yesterday that Tony Blair would be questioned in the near future regarding the criminal investigation into the "cash-for-peerages" scandal engulfing the Labour Party. Mr Blair is likely to become the first prime minister in recent history to be quizzed by police officers, under caution.
Scotland Yard hit back at what police chiefs saw as a Labour attempt to smear their investigation as a PR stunt. The senior Metropolitan Police commander leading the investigation, John Yates, indicated to MPs that he considers the Prime Minister to have a central role in the scandal and that he is deadly serious about the probe. Several of Mr Blair's staff are believed to be among the 48 people so far interviewed and Mr Yates warned he will have no hesitation in questioning Mr Blair in the cing weeks.
Deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, Mr Yates, yesterday met privately with MPs on the public administration committee. To avoid prejudicing the police inquiry the committee has reluctantly agreed to suspend its own investigation. Committee Chairman, Tony Wright, said that Mr Yates had pointed out that he was "very cross" about suggestions his inquiry is not serious. Mr Wright said. "He keeps saying he will go anywhere this investigation leads." He also said that Mr Yates "didn't seem like a man who would balk at interviewing anybody."
Bankers Gary Mulgrew, the son of Labour MSP Trish Godman, David Bermingham and Giles Darby are due to apply for bail today after spending their first night in a Texan prison cell. Meanwhile the political storm surrounding their extradition to the United States refuses to subside. Baroness Scotland, a Home Office minister, flew to Washington in try to encourage Senators to ratify the 2003 extradition treaty at the centre of the controversy. She also maintained that, in order to win over the public, the bankers had mounted a highly skilfull PR campaign. Baroness Scotland admitted in Washington, that coverage of the accused bankers' public relations campaign had damaged the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom.