What was supposed to be a relaxing excursion on the slopes of the French Alps turned into a near catastrophe when a small plane, sliding out of control after leaving an adjacent runway, struck a Polish woman on a skiing holiday.
The aircraft appeared suddenly from behind her without a sound, the local public prosecutor told Agence France-Presse. It skirted a group of children and slid under a chairlift. The woman, 55, did not hear the approaching plane and was hit by its propeller. She was seriously injured, and emergency services reported that she suffered a “near amputation.”
The resort doctor was immediately on scene to provide medical care, and the woman was then taken by helicopter to the local hospital.
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The pilot was about to depart Avoriaz, a ski resort near France’s border with Switzerland, but failed to take off from the snowy high-altitude runway. Local prosecutor Patrick Steinmetz, whose office is investigating the incident, told AFP that the pilot was “a professional who is used to these kind of conditions.”
[AFP]
