Petition Demanding Enhanced Safety on Faraya Mzaar Ski Slopes
A petition raised by parents of a 9-year old child, urged people to sign a petition demanding enhanced safety precautions on the slopes of Mzaar ski resort.
The petition goes as follows: On Saturday January 26th 2013, Adel was involved in a life-threatening incident that left all the onlookers frozen in shock, and left him traumatized by his ordeal.
Adel was on the “Refuge” slope ski lift, on his own. For starters, in no case and under no circumstances should a 9-year old child be ever allowed to ride a ski lift on his own.
As any skier would do, Adel had lowered the safety bar and was waiting to reach the top of the “Refuge” terminal to catch up with the rest of his skiing group.
Upon reaching the “Refuge” terminal, Adel was unable to lift the safety bar – the wind was blowing in gusts and was resisting his efforts. He started screaming in panic, hoping the lift controller notices him and stops the ski lift. To Adel’s bad luck, the controller did not stop the ski lift; he either did not pay attention to him!! Or decided to ignore the distress screams and assumed the screaming child would eventually manage to raise the bar.
Right as he arrived to the terminal, Adel eventually pulled the bar upwards…but a strong wind gust slammed the bar violently and made Adel loose his balance and fall off the lift.
His 4 layers of clothes got tangled on the foot bar and he was now being dragged along with the lift upwards screaming towards the “Mzaar” slopes..and still, the lifts were going full speed. People were shouting, Adel was screaming… until the ski lift suddenly stopped.
"Adel was now hanging by the tip of his clothes with one of his hands holding on for life and below him was a drop of at least 12 meters,” his parents said.
The lifts do not reverse; they could not bring him back. The only way was either forwards or downwards.
A helpful man who spotted him kept talking to Adel, calming him down.
But at this stage, no safety procedures, no emergency response. No rescuers or Red Cross were in sight, and certainly no initiative being taken by anyone employed by Faraya Mzaar.
Some minutes later, the drama took another twist when a hero made an appearance to save our son.
One of Faraya Mzaar’s controllers (on his 3rd day on the job) working in the nearby button-lift took initiative. He stopped his station and ran across to the ski lifts.
This man, Ammar, reached the nearest pole to Adel’s lift and climbed-up. He then used his bare hands to dangle his body from the cable and made his way across 10 meters to reach Adel’s chair. He pulled Adel back up onto the chair and back to safety. This man saved our son and if it weren’t for him, we cannot imagine what could have happened if he hadn’t.
This man might not be there next time this happens to another child.
A child might die on the slopes because of the blatant failure of Faraya Mzaar to provide basic safety measures to all skiers, of all ages.
In light of all this, my husband and I have decided to write this appeal and demand change.
An appeal for all of us to mobilize and ask Faraya Mzaar to inform us of the measures they will be taking to prevent such life-threatening accidents to happen to anyone.
We know that the lift controller was fired, and that Ammar, the hero who saved our son, was a Faraya Mzaar employee. As far as they are concerned, they probably think they got away with this.
Wrong.
We are asking all those who are directly, or indirectly, affected by this story to sign a petition urging Faraya Mzaar to stop taking their customers for granted and start providing them with the basic safety requirements.
From our experience, the way this shocking accident happened is a disgrace to safety and Faraya Mzaar’s staff is untrained and unequipped to handle a situation like this.
We hope this appeal will mobilize everyone and allow us to pressure Faraya Mzaar in finding solutions and communicating them publicly to all their customers.
Check the petition on the link below
http://www.change.org/petitions/faraya-mzaar-ski-resort-safety-appeal
30 January 2013, 14:40
24
This is stupid. Why was the boy left alone? And if he couldnt lift the damn safety bar he should have stayed seated and gone back down. I guess this incident will keep controllers and security men alerted at all times.
31 January 2013, 08:24
30
my friend leymouneh... I believe what slash is trying to say is have you ever tried to watch a kid? if you get distracted for 5 seconds, ordering food or trying to regain your self esteem after you have plunged head first into the snow, in those 5 seconds the kid would be miles away... and banning is not the answer, when have rules and regulations ever solved a problem, they just try to avert the problem from happening by assuming that if you tell people not to do something then they won't do it. The correct answer is solve the damn problem have proper equipment that is safe for all ages to use
30 January 2013, 14:55
20
Looks like the lift operator was Wile E. Coyote and the ski lift was made by the ACME Corporation. Oh and the kid riding alone is not primarily the lift operator's fault it's the parents', where the hell were they?
30 January 2013, 15:40
20
Although I agree with the whole notion that EVERYONE in Lebanon, not only Faraya Mzaar, should start taking necessary security precautions to protect the well being of Lebanon's citizens and tourists, however, and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should the 9-year-old have been left alone! It is because of this sick culture that we live in where parents think it's O.K. to be negligent with their children. It is inexcusable for the parents to allow their infant to ride a ski slope alone. There are two parties to blame here, not only one.
30 January 2013, 16:57
10
It is very easy: we should just start sueing the responsible people and judges should start ruling in favour of the common people of Lebanon!!!
30 January 2013, 17:42
20
mazaar employyes are to busy trying to figure out which girl they want to feel up rather than take care of the lifes of people who pay an arm and leg and may lose one while skiing
30 January 2013, 19:57
20
Well what are you expecting from a ski resort in a country like lebanon...useless unprofessional people....if you go to chamonix in france on to austria you will be amazed how the ski slops are extremly maintained and the crew are over trained ......we need 100000000 year to be civilized....
30 January 2013, 22:10
50
At the age of 9, in windy conditions, the parents took a very big risk, I guess their maid does know how to ski, shame on Lebanese parents that leave their kids without parental supervision, parental effort....
30 January 2013, 22:10
40
People working on the slopes are incompetent. they have no training, no procedures and no rules. My son was hit by a lift because the guys were letting more people in than the lift could take. He was luckily wearing a helmet. I called the guy in charge of security and he gave me the classic stupid lebanese answer: "we ordered material to automate the flow at the lift but we have not received it yet"..... I was stunned " does that mean that in the meanwhile it is ok if a 9 year old got pushed out of the lift and hit in the head!!!!"
Faraya Mzaar is 100% reponsible. They are overly expensive and the security is probably the poorest in the world. They have to change!
30 January 2013, 22:25
51
It makes sense that the operator would not stop the lift until the kid is by the drop off zone. What good does it do if he stops when the kid was over a 12 meters drop? In my opinion there was no wrongdoing or negligence from the operator. If the parents think otherwise, they should file a lawsuit. If I was the owner of the ski lift, I would file a defamation lawsuit against the parents; this is a debatable incident and these actions hurt the image of a touristic attraction. Plus Naharnet should not have published that; they can be held liable. We do things the 'backwarded' way in Lebanon.
31 January 2013, 09:46
40
dear hitech, just for the record, you are right he cannot stop the lift before the drop off zone, but just for your info, the lift had passed the drop off zone and was going back to the starting point. having said that, it could have been stopped before getting in the middle of the way back...
31 January 2013, 09:47
41
dear leymoune hamda, if you re-read the story, the boy was with an instructor, who decided he was able to go on the lift ALONE..
30 January 2013, 22:58
40
" For starters, in no case and under no circumstances should a 9-year old child be ever allowed to ride a ski lift on his own." I TOTALLY disagree with this statement, all over the world kids ride ski lifts alone.
It's not very clear to me what happened here--if the kid fell off the lift at the terminal shouldnt the ground be right under him? This might just be a case where the kid made the mistake and lifted the bar too early. If the kid lost his balance because of wind before reaching the terminal, well that unforunately could happen anywhere. if he's not old/strong enough to handle it on his own, his parents shouldn't let him ride alone.
again not really clear what happened here and its possible the ski resort is not taking all the safety precautions it should have been, but really more information is needed before blame can be assigned
That Ammar guy better get a huge promotion
30 January 2013, 23:54
40
The kid was skiing with a skiing school, the faraya mzaar one and yes he was not supposed to be riding on his own. It is one of the many unprofessionalism of faraya mzaar.
30 January 2013, 23:57
40
No the kid was skiing with a skiing school, the faraya mzaar one actually and yes he should not have been on the lift alone.
31 January 2013, 01:53
50
To leymounehamda: I know the "mama" personally and she is NOTHING like what you describe. She is a very athletic woman, responsible and known for being a hands-on mom. NOT someone who relies on a maid for her children's safety. The child was skiing with an instructor and a group but for some reason was allowed on the lift by himself. Before you pass judgment on people please at least give them the benefit of a doubt. Not everybody's like that.
31 January 2013, 06:12
32
The man who saved the child is a hero, that is what should be remembered.
31 January 2013, 07:55
40
I agree with the petition but my question is why didn't the parents know where their 9 year old kid was? there is a dual responsibility
31 January 2013, 08:10
31
i retract my previous comment, hadn't read that the Child was left with an instructor. If the instructor is hired by Mazaar then full responsibility is on them
31 January 2013, 10:47
40
The international safety standards are quite specific: Kids are allowed to go up a chairlift by themselves regardless of their age provide they measure over 120cm which I am sure is Adel's case given he is 9 years old.
The mistake is that given the strong wind either the chairlift should not have been operating.
Under any circumstances there should be 2 people at the top checking on the safety of the arrivals. There is very little the red-cross could have done in this case. What should have been done is for the slope safety people to run the chairs forward and take Adel to the nearest pylon where the rescuers can climb with a rope, secure the boy and then pull him up or down.
Unfortunately ski-lifts accidents happens all over the world but Mzaar needs to do more in terms of training their staff.
31 January 2013, 11:44
40
Security First !! Faraya Mzar is a beautiful Place for "breathing Fresh Air & decompressing & making such a beautiful sport away from town & problems". Ski-lifts accidents happens all over the world : When strong wind & Tempest arrives the chairlift must not be operating. Specialists controllers & Mzar staff has to be always "ready" for such accidents, but the most important thing is that parents & instructors has always to be with the child "Keeping an eye" - the minimum - when they are not with him - even when he is skying - a child cannot stay alone without "surveillance" nor people who are skying without any attention to the others... accidents can arrive at any time if we are not watchful!!Inchallah Kheir - we hope...for Faraya
An Old Lebanese champion********
01 February 2013, 20:29
00
i do not understand something...they are ripping the people off by taking 40$ and 60$ per person to ski they should at least enhance the security of the people and be more careful. or its like everything else they do not care! bass bihemon ye2bado...
04 February 2013, 01:44
00
Faraya is an ancient resort! When I used to ski in 1970, the same ski lift is still there, we had professional ski instructor with licence from Austria and France which does not exist today. A mother should not tell the school how to do their job; the instructor (if he is professional) will not send a kid on his own on a siege that takes 3 people.
Faraya needs UPGRADING!!! as soon as possible. I will advise every parent not to ski or send their kids to ski until a new Faraya is born. You need ski-ambulance on the slope, a hospital for first aid, new ski lifts, licensed instructors etc…
Diala and Amine you got lucky this time! God bless Adel.
