A 9-year-old boy was hurt over the weekend after falling from a ski lift at Liberty Mountain Resort in southern Pennsylvania.
A video shows the child dangling from the chairlift and then falling several feet to the slope below. The chairlift was stopped and was not moving at the time.
The resort said Monday that the boy is recovering from a leg injury. "We have spoken to the boy's family and he did sustain a leg injury, but other than that is doing just fine," said Anne Weimer, a spokeswoman for Liberty Mountain resort.
She said the incident occurred Saturday afternoon on the Strata Quad, a four-person chairlift, that serves intermediate and advanced terrain at the Fairfield, Pa., resort, which is about 5 miles across the Maryland border from Emmitsburg.
The boy fell 20-25 feet into soft snow about 100 feet downhill from the lift's terminal, according to Weimer.
Liberty Mountain said it had confirmed that there was no chairlift malfunction or operator error. Weimer said the resort is looking into whether the safety restraint bars were in use on the lift.
"It is unclear if it was down in this incident, but at this point we do not believe it was," she said.
Several visitors who were at the resort and saw the boy fall reached out to Liberty Mountain on social media for an update on the child's condition.
"Thanks for your concern. It was a scary sight for all," the resort wrote on its Facebook page in response to one query.
Weimer said that while incidents like this "are extremely rare," the resort emphasizes safety for all its guests, especially children. She said helpful tips can be found at www.kidsonlifts.org.