AT LEAST nine people were killed yesterday - several of them believed to be children - when a concrete block fell from a helicopter onto a ski resort cable car and catapulted passengers out of two nearby carriers.

The accident happened in the Austrian ski resort of Soelden, about 25 miles west of Innsbruck.

The helicopter had accidentally shed part of its load onto the gondola, which then crashed to the ground.

But the concrete's impact on the cable also catapulted more passengers from the other cable cars into the air.

Edelbert Kohler, head of police in Innsbruck, said the helicopter was hauling goods to the top of the cable car lift for construction work when the chunk fell.

Red Cross officials, quoted by the Austria Press Agency last night, spoke of seven injured - five seriously.

Three others escaped injury, said Jakob Falkner, an executive of the cable car company.

The news agency said the piece of concrete weighed 1,500lb. Initially, it appeared the chunk hit the cable, causing the gondolas to swing out of control.

But Mr Falkner said that the concrete directly hit one of the cars.

He said some of the victims appeared to be foreigners.

Twelve rescue helicopters, including police and army helicopters, hovered over the scene of the accident, while dozens of emergency workers rushed to the scene on foot.

The glacier skiing area around Soelden - some of it as high as 3,000 metres - is popular with summer tourists, who flock to its perennially snow-covered peaks.

The accident evoked memories of another ski lift tragedy in neighbouring Italy, in 1998, when a low-flying US marine jet sliced a ski gondola's cables. Twenty people were killed.

Yesterday's incident is the worst of its kind since 155 skiers and snow boarders died in a November 2000 alpine cable-car fire - Austria's deadliest single winter resort tragedy