Police: Brooklyn Woman Killed In Fall From Ski Lift

HUNTER, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Brooklyn woman was killed Sunday after falling from a chair lift at a ski area in the Catskills, state police said.

As CBS2's Emily Smith reported, Olga Filkin, 44, was on a lift at Hunter Mountain in Greene County when she fell off around 2:15 p.m. Sunday, state police said.

Filkin was on the lift by herself at the time of the accident with the safety bar engaged in the downward position, police said.

She fell roughly 25 feet from the "D" lift at the resort – a triple char that carries skiers and snowboarders to the base of the mountain and carries them about halfway up, according to a statement from the resort. She landed at the base of the lift tower, police said.

New York State Police investigator Daniel Mitchell told CBS2 that Filkin's ski was believed to have gotten caught on a lift support pole soon after she got onto the lift. The mishap pulled her under the restraint bar, Mitchell said.

She was treated at the scene by Ski Patrol and medical personnel but died at the scene.

A family friend who identified herself as Svetlana told CBS2's Weijia Jiang that she met Filkin some 20-years-ago in Ukraine. The pair moved into a Midwood apartment building a world away.

"She is a very good person, very good mother, very good wife. She loved her husband and kids," she said.

Svetlana said the family goes skiing almost every weekend.

"The family is sports family. They have very big knowledge for this. They have experience for skiing," she said.

Police say she was riding alone on the lift at the time, and the safety bar was in the downward position.

Ski patrol and emergency responders tried to save her, but she died shortly after.

"This is a terrible tragedy," resort president Russ Coloton said in a news release. "We can only imagine what the family is going through, and we stand ready to assist them in any way that we can."

An autopsy was performed Monday and the cause of death was determined to have been accidental and consistent with a fall.

According to the area coroner's office, drug and alcohol tests were pending as of Monday as per standard procedure.

Filkin was survived by her husband and a two children, a young boy in elementary school and a daughter who is on the Cornell University Ski Team. CBS2 went inside her Midwood, Brooklyn home and spoke with a friend of the family briefly, who said family members were just not ready to talk Monday.

Hunter Mountain is located in the town of Hunter, in the northern Catskill Mountains 40 miles southwest of Albany.

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