Italy cable car fall: 14 dead including child after accident near Lake Maggiore
23 May 2021, 13:56 | Updated: 23 May 2021, 20:10
Fourteen people have died including a child, and another child has been seriously injured, after a mountaintop cable car plunged to the ground in northern Italy.
The cable car fell near the summit of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region and was very high off the ground, Alpine rescue service spokesman Walter Milan said.
A photo of the wreckage taken by Italy's fire department showed the crushed remains of the cable car in a clearing among a thick patch of pine trees near the summit of the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore.
Emergency services were called just after midday local time. The cause of the incident remains unclear.
Two children aged five and nine were airlifted to hospital. The nine-year-old later died.
Earlier, local media reported rescue efforts were made harder because cabin fell into a wood in an inaccessible area.
Mr Milan said the cable line was renovated in 2016 and had only recently reopened after coronavirus lockdowns forced the closures of ski lifts across Italy.
Minister of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility. Enrico Giovannini, said: "A terrible tragedy, I have already spoken with the prefect and the director of the Fire Brigade and Civil Protection.
"We are trying to understand what has happened, but it is a truly terrible tragedy."
Mottarone reaches a height of 1,491m (4,900ft) and overlooks a picturesque lake.
The trip up the mountain from the base at the lake features a cable car to get up halfway and then a chairlift to reach a small amusement park, Alpyland, further up that has a children's rollercoaster offering 360-degree views of the scenery.
The site offers mountain bike paths and hiking trails, as is common for many Italian mountain areas that are popular with tourists and locals in spring and summer.
The Stresa-Mottarone cable car line advertises a panoramic, 20-minute trip up the mountain, offering a view of seven lakes at the peak.
It appeared to be Italy's worst cable car disaster since 1998 when a low-flying US military jet cut through the cable of a ski lift in Cavalese, in the Dolomites, killing 20 people.
Italy's transport minister, Enrico Giovannini, was following the rescue effort, which involved the deployment of three helicopters to the mountainside.
It is the latest incident to raise questions about the quality of Italy's transport infrastructure. In 2018, the Morandi bridge in Genoa collapsed after years of neglect, killing 43 people.
