A fatal accident involving a 17-year-old boy was reported Tuesday at Blue Mountain Resort, said Carbon County Coroner Robert Miller Jr.
A deputy coroner was dispatched to St. Luke’s Hospital-Palmerton about 1 p.m. because of the accident, according to Miller, who said at the time he was just learning details of it.
“All I know, it was a 17-year-old male,” Miller said. “That’s all I know.”
Miller expected an autopsy will be performed Wednesday.
Blue Mountain Resort is in Lower Towamensing Township in the Pocono Mountains. Twenty-three of its trails and seven of its lifts are open so far this season, according to the resort’s website.
Tricia Matsko, a spokeswoman for the resort, said the accident occurred about 11:30 a.m. and is under investigation. She declined to discuss how the boy was injured.
“Our thoughts do go out to the young gentleman’s family,” Matsko said. “They are in our thoughts and prayers.”
Across the United States in the past decade, an average of 38 people a year die in ski-slope accidents, according to the National Ski Areas Association, an industry group. There were 37 fatalities in the 2017-18 season, the majority caused by collisions with other skiers, trees or lift towers, the association said.
Blue Mountain Resort accident: 17-year-old boy reportedly dies today https://t.co/O2V6mf1qRN
— Riley Yates (@riley_yates) January 1, 2019
Last year, Blue Mountain Resort was the site of two fatal accidents.
Grygoriy Sologub, 53, of Philadelphia died Jan. 21 after another skier ran into him on a slope, authorities said.
On March 15, 20-year-old Euna Shin of Piscataway, N.J., was pronounced dead one day after she suffered head injuries from a fall while snowboarding, authorities said.
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