A cable car taking visitors to a mountaintop view of some of northern Italy's most picturesque lakes plunged to the ground Sunday killing at least 13 people. Photo / via AP
A cable car taking visitors to a mountaintop view of some of northern Italy's most picturesque lakes plunged to the ground Sunday killing at least 13 people. Photo / via AP
A cable car taking visitors to a mountaintop view of some of northern Italy's most picturesque lakes plummeted to the ground and then tumbled down the slope, killing 14 people on Sunday. A young child was hospitalised in serious condition with broken bones, authorities said.
Stresa Mayor Marcella Severino said it appeared that a cable broke, sending the car careening until it hit a pylon and then fell to the ground. At that point, the car overturned "two or three times before hitting some trees", she said. Some of those who died were thrown from the cabin.
Rescuers work by the wreckage of a cable car after it collapsed near the summit of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. Photo / via AP
The Italian government announced a commission to investigate the disaster, which is likely to renew questions about the quality of Italy's transport infrastructure.
Images from the site showed the crumpled car in a clearing of a thick patch of pine trees near the summit of the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore. The car was believed to have fallen around 15 metres, according to Italian media.
"It was a terrible, terrible scene," Severino told local media.
Rescuers work by the wreckage of a cable car after it collapsed near the summit of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region, northern Italy leaving at least 13 people dead. Photo / via AP
The plunge on the Stresa-Mottarone line happened about 100m before the final pylon, said Walter Milan, spokesman for Italy's Alpine rescue service.
By Sunday evening, the death toll had risen to 14 dead after one of two children taken to Turin's Regina Margherita children's hospital died. The child died after several attempts to restart his heart failed and "there was nothing more we could do", said hospital spokesman Pier Paolo Berra. The other young child, who arrived at the hospital conscious, remained in serious condition, authorities said.
Milan noted that the cable line had been renovated in 2016 and had only recently reopened after coronavirus lockdowns in Italy curtailed travel and forced the suspension of many leisure activities. Milan suggested many families may have flocked to the mountain on a sunny Sunday after months of restrictions.
The collapse on the the Stresa-Mottarone line happened about 100m before the final pylon, according to Italy's Alpine rescue service. Photo / via AP
The line is popular with tourists and locals alike to scale Mottarone, which reaches a height of 1491 metres (4900ft) and overlooks several picturesque lakes and the surrounding Alps of Italy's Piedmont region.
The mountain hosts a small amusement park, Alpyland, which has a children's rollercoaster, and the area also has mountain bike paths and hiking trails.
Premier Mario Draghi offered his condolences to the families of the victims "with a particular thought about the seriously injured children and their families".
Sunday's tragedy 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.
A cable car taking visitors to a mountaintop view of some of northern Italy's most picturesque lakes plunged to the ground Sunday killing at least 13 people. Photo / via AP
Italy's transport minister, Enrico Giovannini, announced a commission to look into the tragedy and said he had already requested data on the maintenance work and inspections done on the line in the past. He planned to visit the site on Monday.
While the cause hasn't been determined, the disaster was likely to raise questions about Italy's transport infrastructure. In 2018, the Morandi bridge in Genoa collapsed after years of neglect, killing 43 people.
In 2009, a freight train carrying gas derailed at the Viareggio station, near Lucca, and exploded, killing 32 people. Poorly maintained axles of the train were blamed.
President Sergio Mattarella, in offering his condolences, called for the "rigorous respect of all security norms for all conditions that concern the transport of people".
