#Man, two sons hurt in Poconos ski lift accident

A man and his two sons were hurt when their Poconos ski lift chair suddenly plummeted about 15 feet to the ground, according to new reports.

The family got on the Sullivan Express ski lift at Camelback Mountain around 4 p.m. Sunday when the freak incident happened, WPVI reported.

Doug Mackie, of Easton, Penn., who was skiing with his son Dylan, told the outlet he let the father and his kids go ahead of them on the lift.

Mackie said he was two cars behind the family when the lift suddenly stopped, started swaying and plunged to the ground.

“And we saw that family, the two kids were here and the dad was here, and [their chair] started really going bad, and it went up almost vertical and they popped right off,” Mackie said.

Mackie saw the father “grabbing at his kids to save their lives,” he told KYW-TV.

“That struck me hard,” Mackie said. “Still bothers me. They landed hard, I remember the sound. Then there was just screaming, man, lots of screaming.”

“It’s definitely something I don’t want to live again,” he added.

Camelback ski patrol swiftly jumped into action, Mackie said.

The family was hospitalized, and their names and conditions were not immediately released.

As resort officials work with state authorities to determine what went wrong, the lift remains closed.

“We are devastated by the weekend’s events on the Sullivan Lift and our hearts go out to the family involved,” Camelback Mountain posted on Facebook Tuesday. “We thank you for your patience as we continue to conduct a thorough investigation. In the meantime, Sullivan Lift remains closed.”