Terrible construction accident this Wednesday, July 27 in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie. two workers died on the Montenvers construction site in Chamonix, the new Mer de Glace gondola under construction. They worked for the Isère company MBTM based in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont and specialized in the assembly of ski lifts. A third worker is slightly injured.
“The accident occurred a hundred meters downstream from the arrival station of the Montenvers cogwheel train” reports Mathieu Dechavannethe general manager of the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc, manager of the Montenvers tourist site.
“The two men were tied to the pylon”
“The two deceased workers, aged 22 and 23, were working at height on the construction of a cableway, that is to say a construction crane intended to transport the materials necessary for the construction of the new gondola of the Sea of ice. The two men were tied” indicates Mathieu Dechavanne, “when for some undetermined reason the pylon on which they were perched tipped over, dragging the victims down with it”.
A third worker who was on another pylon was shaken by the shock wave but not physically affected.
The Bonneville prosecutor’s office has opened a judicial investigation.
The Montenvers tourist site (the train, the gondola and the visits) will be exceptionally closed this Thursday.
– Melanie Tournadre