A 22-year-old Australian woman died after she sustained injuries when her backpack got caught on a ski lift in central Japan, leaving her suspended mid-air.
The incident took place on January 30 at the Tsugaike Mountain Resort in Otari, Nagano Prefecture. The victim, Ella Day Brooke, succumbed to her injuries after she suffered a cardiac arrest following the incident.
The Independent quoted a resort stating that an unfastened waist-belt buckle on her backpack became caught on the lift chair while the chest strap stayed secured, dragging her across the snow and leaving her hanging mid-air.
“Because the chest strap of the backpack was fastened, the backpack did not detach from the guest’s body, and the guest was dragged along with the backpack after
disembarking from the lift,” the company’s chief executive Kubo Tsuneo said in a statement.
The lift was finally stopped by an attendant who pressed the emergency button and rushed the woman to the hospital.
“Emergency assistance was promptly provided, and the guest was then transported to a hospital by ambulance,” the statement read.
However, Brooke was declared dead by the hospital upon arrival, The Independent reported.
Following the incident, Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade said they were providing consular assistance to the woman’s family.
“We send our deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time. Owing to our privacy obligations we are unable to provide further comment,” a spokesperson for the department said.
Meanwhile, the Tsugaike Mountain Resort and Tsugaike Gondola Lift Co have issued a joint apology and said an investigation would be launched into the incident.
