14 people, all adults, were injured today when a part broke on one of the pylons in the beginners' area of Borreguiles in the Sierra Nevada ski resort in Granada at approximately 10.30 this morning.

The failure of this section of the lift caused six separate chairs, each designed to carry four passengers, to fall from a height of some five metres.

The area was cordoned off and an emergency operation was put into action immediately to rescue the injured whose injuries ranged from fractured limbs to bruises.

The ski-piste personnel were first on the scene, helped by other skiers, before the two ambulances and three mobile intensive care units arrived and the two local helicopters were put on alert.

Provisions were made by the emergency services to airlift anyone with serious injuries to hospitals in Granada, but in the event all the injured were all taken to the Policlínica in Pradollano, Monachil, part of the ski resort.