Irish girl falls from ski lift in Austria

We just read a news story from the AustrianTimes.at, that tells the story of a 10-year old Irish girl, Emily O’Rourke from Mullingar, Co. Westmeath , who fell 30 feet from a chair lift this week. It is believed that Emily fell from the chair lift, under the safety bar. Generally this is quite a difficult thing to happen as the safety bar on lifts will rest on your lap.

Ski lift with safety bar up by Risto HEye witnesses said that there was a couple on the lift with Emily, and they were seen to be holding on to her.

This all took place at the Bergbahnen Westendorf, in Tyrol, Austria. The story seems to be a little dodgy because the people who were on the lift, not her parents, fled the scene. They were cited as saying that the had a 1/2 day ski pass and they wanted to use it ! The Tyrolean Police are now looking for this couple.

Hansjörg Kogler, the boss of the lift company Bergbahnen Westendorf, said: “I really cannot understand their behaviour. We wanted to question the couple about the events, but they were not cooperative, they had nothing to say, they said they only had half day passes and therefore wanted to go skiing.

Brechhornhaus in Westendorf by  Jilles

Emily is in hospital recovering from three vertebrae have been broken due to the fall, but is expected to make a full recovery.