Two British tourists are believed to be among the four people killed when a cable car’s traction cable snapped and the cabin plummeted to the ground in southern Italy.
Four tourists and an engineer were on board the cable car when it plunged at “maximum speed” into woodland in Naples after striking a pylon on Thursday afternoon, triggering a major rescue operation in the face of bad weather and fog.
Four people were killed, while a fifth person who was flung from the cabin was evacuated by helicopter in a serious condition, mountain rescue services and firefighters said.
The accident happened as the cable car was approaching the Monte Faito landing station, a peak around 45 km (28 miles) south-east of the city offering hikers views of Naples and Vesuvius.
“What happened is an unimaginable and unpredictable tragedy,” said Umberto De Gregorio, chairman of the EAV public transport company which runs the cable car service, on Facebook.
Two of the four people killed after the supporting cable snapped were British nationals on holiday, according to Italian media. Another was a cable car operator from a nearby town, Il Corriere della Sera reported, and the fourth was an Israeli tourist.
A second Israeli was injured and in a stable but serious condition, the Naples hospital treating him said on Friday.
Vincenzo De Luca, the governor of Campania, told Rainews that the “two tourist couples” were in the cabin when disaster struck shortly after 3pm along the cableway that connects the city of Castellammare di Stabia in Naples with the summit.
The mayor of Castellammare di Stabia, Luigi Vicinanza, told reporters: “The traction cable broke, the emergency brake downstream worked, but evidently not the one on the cabin that was entering the station on the top of Faito.”
Another cabin stopped in mid-air near the foot of the mountain, with 16 passengers evacuated one-by-one with harnesses, footage on RAI TV and other media showed.
De Luca told RAI that fog and high winds hampered the rescue.
The cable car services had just reopened for the spring and summer season ten days previously, Mr De Gregorio said.
Local media reported an investigation into the incident has been opened by the Torre Annunziata Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Mr De Luca told Rainews during the rescue mission: “The fog and bad weather are hindering operations but it could have been worse – many human lives were saved. The company told us that maintenance had been done.
“It is likely that the cabin descended at maximum speed and hit the central pylons, now we must do everything we can to help the injured.
“The cable car had been closed for many years, it was reactivated in 2017, and renovation work has been done.”
Angelo Lustro, general secretary of the CGIL union said: “We are facing a tragedy that leaves us breathless and speechless.”
Confirming the engineer as one of the victims, he added: “Now is the time for mourning and silence for the victims of this immense and absurd tragedy. Then the time will come to ascertain the causes and who is responsible.”
Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli expressed his condolences to the victims, saying: “Monte Faito is a symbolic place. As a guardian of natural beauty to see it today the scene of such a tragedy saddens us deeply.
“Our most sincere thoughts go to the community affected and to all those who are facing the consequences of this tragedy.”
In 2021, 14 people died in Italy when a cable car linking the northern Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain plunged to the ground.
