Plane hits skier
Plane hits skier, Aski plane struggling to take off seriously injured a Polish skier Thursday on the Avoriaz ski mountain in the French Alps.
The single-prop ski plane failed to take off and slid down the slopes, narrowly missing a group of children before striking a woman and almost severing her hand. The victim, a 55-year-old woman, suffered a near amputation from the plane’s propeller and required a medevac to a nearby hospital, the Guardian reported.
“The plane suddenly appeared behind her, and there was virtually no sound,” local public prosecutor Patrick Steinmetz told Agence France-Presse. “She didn’t hear it.”
The pilot, whom Steinmetz said was accustomed to these kinds of conditions, had stopped at Avoriaz en route to Switzerland with one passenger. The plane was moved on Thursday night, but the ski track will remain closed until the end of May.
The prosecutor’s office is investigating the accident.
The single-prop ski plane failed to take off and slid down the slopes, narrowly missing a group of children before striking a woman and almost severing her hand. The victim, a 55-year-old woman, suffered a near amputation from the plane’s propeller and required a medevac to a nearby hospital, the Guardian reported.
“The plane suddenly appeared behind her, and there was virtually no sound,” local public prosecutor Patrick Steinmetz told Agence France-Presse. “She didn’t hear it.”
The pilot, whom Steinmetz said was accustomed to these kinds of conditions, had stopped at Avoriaz en route to Switzerland with one passenger. The plane was moved on Thursday night, but the ski track will remain closed until the end of May.
The prosecutor’s office is investigating the accident.