Nine killed as cable car crashes in Italy

Rescue workers at the site of the cable car crash in Italy. Photo Italian police

Rescue workers at the site of the cable car crash in Italy. Photo Italian police

Rescue workers at the site of the cable car crash in Italy. Photo Italian police
Rescue workers at the site of the cable car crash in Italy. Photo Italian police

Agency Reports

A cable car linking Italy’s Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain in the Alps plunged to the ground on Sunday, killing nine people and injuring two kids.

The Stresa-Mottarone cable car carries tourists and local people from the town of Stresa on Lake Maggiore, almost 1,400 metres above sea level, to the top of the Mottarone mountain.

“This is the final toll of the accident as the car was carrying 11 passengers when the disaster happened,” Simone Bobbio, a spokesman for Italy’s alpine rescue service for the Piedmont region.

The cable car cabin plunged close to the second last pillar as it was moving up the mountain, Bobbio said, adding there were still no details about the nationality or ages of the victims.

Walter Milan, another spokesman for the national alpine rescue service told RaiNews24 television that two children had been transported by helicopter to a pediatric hospital in the nearby northern city of Turin.

A call to rescue services came just after midday (1000 GMT), Milan said, adding that cable car had fallen from a very high point and was now “crumpled” in the woods below.

The Stresa-Mottarone lift had only recently re-opened following the gradual lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

The Mottarone peak is popular among tourists because of its panoramic views on Lake Maggiore and its picturesque islands as well as the vista of the surrounding Alps.

Load more