Ethan Austin, a spokesman for the resort, said the derailment on one tower of the Spillway East lift happened around 10:30 a.m. ET, when lift's cable skipped over the edge of a pulley. Five of the lift's chairs fell 25 to 30 feet and hit the ground, he said.
December 28, 2010 3:50 p.m. EST
Skiers teeter on broken chair lift
Austin later told CNN the rescue operation was complete around noon.
Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, Maine, received three patients and was expecting four more, according to spokeswoman Jill Gray. Another patient was brought in by ambulance, but was transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland by helicopter, Gray said.
Robb Atkinson, a CNN employee who initially was trapped on the lift, said he saw skiers fall from the lift when it came to an abrupt stop during high winds.
"I felt a jerk," said Atkinson, who was riding the lift with his wife. He also described hearing "screams from skiers below" as he watched at least three chairs drop 20 to 30 feet to the ground.
High winds were gusting between 30 mph and 50 mph in the area at the time, according to CNN Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, and temperatures at the resort were well below freezing.
Austin said Tuesday afternoon there were an estimated 220 people on the more than 100 chairs on the lift, and the process of evacuating everyone from the chairs dangling above the resort was under way.
"You had to slide off the chair lift 40 feet off the ground into a swing," Atkinson said. After that, skiers were lowered down to the ground and had to ski to the base of the mountain, he said.
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