150 skiers rescued from broken chairlift in Austria

BERLIN (AP) - About 150 skiers who were stuck on a broken chairlift in central Austria for several hours were rescued safely Monday, by helicopters and mountain rescue teams, Austrian police said Monday.

Styria provincial police said on Twitter that all the skiers taken off the Rosenkranz chairlift at Kreischberg mountain north of Klagenfurt were uninjured.

The lift stopped working early in the afternoon working because of technical problems. Three helicopters and several mountain aid groups were involved in the operation, the Austrian news agency APA reported.

Local media reported that it would have taken too long to repair the broken chair lift, so authorities decided to start evacuating the skiers.

Authorities informed the stuck riders with loud speakers in several languages that they would rescue them. Members of rescue team then climbed up to the chairs from below and brought some of the people down with ropes. Others were lifted up onto helicopters.

The stopped chairs were 7-10 meters (23-33 feet) above the ground. The weather was comparatively mild, so no one suffered any ill-effects from cold.