The little 6-year-old skier who died of suffocation in a ski lift in January was dragged 540 meters by her hood, even though her instructor had been warned by another young person that she had remained hanging on, we learn in the coroner’s report .
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On January 29, little Lily Leblanc took part in her second ski lesson of the winter with her instructor and two other children.
The manager sat in a ski lift style T-bar with a child. Lily and another little apprentice were together in front of them.
Lily hugs a rabbit.
Photo courtesy of the Leblanc family
When they were about 200 meters into the climb, the little skier who was with the instructor fell. The latter then gave the directive to his two other students to disembark from the T-bar in an effort to keep his group together.
While little Lily was trying to get to her instructor, her hoodie got stuck in the ski lift.
Dragging for two minutes without assistance
The ski lift was then stopped urgently, but for a reason that remains unclear, it was restarted shortly after, even though no one had yet located the little skier. For what?
“This is the question that everyone is asking,” indicates coroner Julie-Kim Godin in an interview with Le Journal.
According to the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) investigation, the little girl was then dragged over a distance of approximately 540 meters before she was seen. This is approximately two minutes, based on the average speed of such a lift.
“The attendant who works at the top […] eventually sees Lily, we can read in the coroner’s report. When he notices that it is not in a usual position or in balance, he stops the T-bar […]. When he took her down, he noticed that she was unconscious.”
The operator then tried to call for help, but his radio did not work. He hastens to go down the mountain on foot so that someone can help him.
However, the death of the little skier was noted in the evening at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center in Montreal. According to the pathologist, the girl lost consciousness and was unable to free herself. She therefore died of asphyxiation.
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More training
The coroner notes three causes which contributed to her death, namely the fact that she was not accompanied by an adult in the ski lift contrary to the establishment’s policy, that the instructor gave the instruction to evacuate the T-bar and, above all, that it was restarted even if Lily was still hanging on to it.
“I have the sincere conviction that the death could have been avoided if we had acted on these factors”, specifies the coroner on the telephone.
According to her, the station’s basic safety rules and emergency measures were completely ignored.
“The instructor and employees operating the ski lift […] did not move and did not ask for help from a colleague or a patrol officer, deplores Coroner Godin. So, no one went to help Lily […]and this, even though we knew that she had fallen and was hanging from a T-bar.”
Me Godin recommends that the Val Saint-Côme ski resort, the Association of Quebec Ski Resorts and the Alliance of Canadian Ski Instructors increase the training of instructors and ski lift operators in order to prevent a such drama. She also believes that it would be necessary for all employees on a mountain to be equipped with an effective means of communication.
Since the event, the lift in question has been completely dismantled and replaced by a “magic carpet”.
The president and CEO of the station, François Gagnon, declined our interview request. In a statement, he affirms that the coroner’s recommendations will be implemented and that these are a priority in order to avoid another tragedy.