Pilot, passenger in ‘miracle’ escape after light plane collides with chairlift
The light plane flipped after hitting the chairlift wires. Photo: ABC/Facebook
A light plane has been left hanging upside down in ski lift cables after crashing in the Italian Alps.
Pictures were released by Italian mountain rescuers following the crash in Prato Valentino on Sunday, with alpine rescue teams and firefighters called in to help.
Amazingly both the 62-year-old pilot of the aircraft and his 55-year-old passenger escaped the wreckage, although the pilot was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
According to CNSAS, Italy’s mountain rescue service, the pilot from Genoa was thrown from the plane after it got tangled and flipped over in the cables.
The only passenger was unharmed. Images showed him calmly sitting on the wing as rescuers tried to extricate him from the wreckage.
The rescue operation is understood to have taken two hours.
The passenger waited on the plane’s wing for rescuers to arrive. Photo: ABC/Facebook
Mountain rescue spokesman Walter Milan told British tabloid The Sun the men had a lucky escape.
“They were both very lucky, really. If the plane had crashed into the ground, the ending could have been very different,” Mr Milan said.
“It was a complicated rescue operation involving many services, but ultimately it was successful, which was the main thing.
“It was a miracle. The pilot suffered injuries but not too serious. Both men were of course very shocked also.”
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
