Two people died on Elbrus due to a cable car accident

A single-seat cable car broke on Mount Elbrus in Kabardino-Balkaria, two people died, and their bodies are being evacuated by rescuers.

The first message about the emergency on Mount Elbrus was published today by the head of Kabardino-Balkaria, Kazbek Kokov. According to him, the cable car was operated by a private company, Elbrus MKD LLC.

"Rescuers are working at the scene, and the bodies of the dead are being evacuated. There is currently no information about casualties. The preliminary cause of the accident is the cable coming off the roller of one of the supports," Kokov wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to the republican Ministry of Emergency Situations, a message about the accident was received by emergency services at 15:30 Moscow time. “The modern gondola cable car is undergoing routine maintenance from September 3 to 24 to prepare for the winter season,” the department said in a statement.

A local resident and a tourist were killed in the incident, and rescuers are evacuating other people at the scene, TASS Kavkaz reported with reference to the Elbrus high-mountain search and rescue team.

The vertical evacuation of the remaining tourists from Elbrus is complicated by weather conditions, the Sapa Kavkaz Telegram channel notes. According to the 112 channel, rescuers are evacuating nine people.

As “Kavkazsky Uzel” wrote, 12 people were injured when the cable car collapsed in Nalchik on August 8, one of them is in serious condition. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article on the provision of unsafe services resulting in serious bodily harm. All the victims were tourists, the head of the republic reported. By the morning of August 9, four people remained in the hospital, one patient underwent surgery.

The cable car in the city park of Nalchik was built in 1968, the main reason for the cable break was said to be the wear of the lift. Tourists have repeatedly complained about the condition of the cable car, a ticket for which costs 500 rubles: they wrote that the lift is "very old", "everything is rusty" and "everything is held together by snot", and also criticized the design: "a seat with a chain and that's it".

* the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.