(Rome) Four people were killed and a injured Thursday afternoon in the fall of the cabin of a cable car in the Naples region, firefighters on Telegram announced on Thursday evening by citing a final assessment.
Posted at 3:50 p.m. Updated at 4:09 p.m.
“Four lifeless bodies were found while a fifth injured person was rescued and transported to the hospital,” said the firefighters, adding that “more than 50” of them participated in the rescue operations.
Four tourists and a guide were in the cabin of this cable car, which links the city of Castellammare Di Stabia, in the Gulf of Naples, at Mont Fais over a distance of almost three kilometers.
PHOTO ALESSANDRO GAROFALO, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rescuers were dispatched to the scene of the accident.
The accident occurred following the breakdown of a cable, while a cabin with 16 passengers was very close to the city and the ground, while a second cabin was at Mont Faiso above a precipice.
The 16 passengers in the first cabin were all quickly rescued, but the bad weather and the fog at altitude prevented the passengers from the second cabin quickly.
Firefighters now seek to safely put this cabin to prevent it from slipping towards the valley and does not cause other damage.
An open investigation
“The cable car reopened 10 days ago with all the security conditions required by the regulations. What happened today is an unimaginable, unpredictable tragedy, on which of course must be clarified, “said Umberto de Gregorio, the president of the cable car manager.
An investigation was opened by the local prosecutor’s office and many political leaders expressed their sadness following this tragedy.
The Giorgia Meloni government’s heading, traveling to Washington where she met President Donald Trump earlier, wished to “express on behalf of the Italian government and on his personal name, his proximity and her sincere condolences to the families of the victims and the wounded”, according to a statement from her services.
This cable car, inaugurated in 1952, had an accident in 1960, when a cabin fell on the ground causing the death of four people.
Almost four years ago, in May 2021, a cable car crashed into a seaside resort in Piedmont, on the banks of Lake Major in Italy, killing 14 people.
And in 1998, an American NATO military plane, flying at low altitude in the Dolomites, had cut the cable of a cable car, causing the death of 20 people.
