Disasters & Accidents

13 killed as cable car plummets to ground in northern Italy

(Update 1: Upgrades death toll, changes source, adds quotes.)

Rome, May 23 (EFE).- At least 13 people have been killed and three injured after a mountain cable car near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy plummeted to the ground on Sunday, the local mayor confirmed.

Two children aged nine and five are among the injured and have been airlifted to a hospital in Turin.

Marcella Severino, the mayor of Stresa, the lakeside resort town when the cable car system begins, said the hauling cable appeared to have snapped.

“Hikers who were in the area this morning heard a loud hiss and saw the cable car that was coming to the top go back quickly,” she told Sky Tg24.

She said the cable car fell to the ground when it hit one of the system’s pylons.

The cable car dropped to the ground at around 1 pm local time at one of the highest points on the line between Stresa and the Mottarone mountain.

Italian news agency Ansa reported that the accident took place over a difficult-to-access wooded area on the slopes of the mountain, just 300m from the station at the end of the line.

The cableway was reopened last month with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, Ansa added. EFE

mr/jt

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