Calgary

Boy falls from chairlift at Lake Louise, breaks leg

A 10-year-old boy was airlifted to Calgary from the Lake Louise ski hill on Monday afternoon after falling from a chairlift.

10-year-old airlifted to Calgary as a precaution after falling 14 metres

A 10-year-old boy was airlifted to Calgary as a precaution after falling from the Glacier chair at Lake Louise. (CBC)

A 10-year-old boy was airlifted to Calgary from the Lake Louise ski hill on Monday afternoon after falling from the Glacier chairlift. 

"It appears they did not put the restraining bar down and the child fell approximately 45 feet, essentially, I understand, breaking his leg," said Lake Louise Ski Resort spokesperson Dan Markham.

He says STARS air ambulance was called as a precaution in case there were other injuries, including damage to the child's spine. 

Markham said there are warnings for people to lower the restraining bar on chairlifts, but unfortunately it appears that didn't happen in this case. 

"It is unfortunate it happened.... because 99.9 per cent of the time people are putting those bars down, and if someone forgets to do so there's still a very, very, very slim chance that they'll fall off, but I guess in this case it happened," he said.