Cable Cars Collide in Scottish Mountains

LONDON – Two cable cars collided on a Scottish mountain range Thursday, and several people were reported injured, police and military officials said.

Northern Constabulary said mountain rescue teams and helicopters were at the site of the incident in the Nevis range in the Highlands of northwest Scotland.

"It is understood that two gondolas would have appeared to have collided and a number of casualties have been reported," a spokeswoman said, on customary condition of anonymity.

Michael Mulford, a spokesman for Royal Air Force base Kinloss in Scotland, said between five and eight people were reported injured, some of them seriously. He said several appeared to have been thrown from the cable cars.

"First reports suggest several broken legs, head injuries, chest injuries," he told Sky News television. "So in anyone's language, this is developing into quite a serious incident."

Mulford said the injured would likely be taken to hospital in nearby Fort William. Some of the more seriously injured could be taken to a nearby trauma center in Inverness, about 560 miles (900 kilometers) north of London.

Mulford said the Royal Air Force had mounted a "significant" emergency response.

According to the Nevis Range's website, the six-seater cable cars transport visitors 2,150 feet (655 meters) up Aonach Mor mountain to panoramic viewpoints. In the summer, the range -- home to 4,409-foot (1,344-meter) Ben Nevis, Britain's highest peak -- is popular with walkers.