NZ boy saved after slipping from Aspen chairlift

File photo / Supplied

An eight-year-old New Zealand boy avoided serious injury when he was saved from a fall by chairlift staff at Aspen's Snowmass Ski Area in the United States on Saturday.

The boy was with his parents when he began to slip out of his chairlift just before 9.30am. His parents had to hang on to him as the chairlift moved up the hill.

An operator saw the incident unfolding and stopped the chairlift. Five patrollers scrambled to the nearest lift tower, unhooked a safety pad and held it for the boy to drop on to. He fell over seven metres but was uninjured.

The cause of the incident is not known but the boy's mother told the Aspen Times that there was a problem with loading and she never felt her son was fully seated.

- NZPA