Cause of Gudauri ski-lift accident revealed

The reason for the Gudauri ski-lift accident on March 16 was a voltage drop and human error, Georgia’s Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili said at a press-conference.

"Based on the records from a memory device installed on the equipment, it was determined that on March 16, there was a voltage drop, which stopped the ski-lift. However, after the ski-lift stopped, the operator should have turned on a nearby diesel generator to bring skiers to a point from where they would have been able to get off and vacate the ski-lift," Kumsishvili said.

Experts from the world leading Bureau Veritas have been checking the site as well as the ski-lift documentation over the past few days, and today they presented the results of the inspection together with the Minister of Economy, Agenda.ge reported.

Kumsishvili stressed that Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs would continue an official investigation and will raise the issue of relevant responsibilities in compliance with the legislation.

Meanwhile, the operator was "suspended from his activities”, as well as the Deputy Director of Mountain Resorts Company in the technical field and the head of the Gudauri Mountain Management Department offered their resignation to Kumsishvili "as they feel responsibility for the accident”.