A cable car fell near a mountain summit in the Piedmont region of northern Italy on Sunday morning, killing at least nine people, the country’s Alpine rescue service said.
The two other passengers on the car, both children, were transported by air ambulance to a hospital in Turin, it was reported over television.
The car fell from its cable close from the summit of the Mottarone mountain near Lake Maggiore into a wooded area in an inaccessible area. Mountain rescue teams and fire crews, including a helicopter, are on the site.
The cable line links Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore to the summit of Mottarone, which is about 4,900 feet altitude. The ride takes about 20 minutes with a stop at the halfway point.
Walter Milan, spokesman for the Alpine rescue service, said the cables were particularly high off the ground at that point. He said the cable line had been renovated in 2016 and reopened in April after restrictions for the coronavirus disease 2019.
“A terrible tragedy, I have already spoken with the prefect and the director of the Fire Brigade and Civil Protection,” Enrico Giovannini, the minister of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility, said. “We are trying to understand what has happened, but it is a truly terrible tragedy,”
A small amusement park at the summit, Alpyland, includes children’s rollercoaster.
