Mountaintop cable car kills 13 passengers as it plunges to the ground in northern Italy 

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Thirteen people have been killed and two children have been seriously injured today after a horror accident in which a mountaintop cable car plunged 65ft to the ground in northern Italy.

The cable car, which reopened only a month ago following a Covid lockdown, is thought to have been carrying 15 people to the top of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region of the western Alps and dropped when it was just 1,000ft from the 4,900ft-high mountain station shortly after 12pm.

Local mayor Marcella Severino told local media the accident is believed to have been caused by one of the cables breaking. She said the lift plunged some 65ft and rolled several times down the slopes before it was stopped by trees, while mountain hikers said they had heard a loud hiss just before the crash.

The National Alpine rescue service said 13 people were killed and two children aged five and nine were airlifted to a paediatric hospital in Turin. Some of the victims were found trapped inside the car, with others thrown out into the woods, while another injured person was also taken to hospital.

Italian premier Mario Draghi voiced his condolences to the families of the victims, ‘with a special thought’ for the injured children, while transport minister Enrico Giovannini described the incident as a ‘terrible tragedy’. Coroners have started identifying the victims, who included foreign nationals. 

The accident appears 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, killing 20 people. It is likely to raise questions about the quality of Italy’s transport infrastructure after 43 died when the Morandi bridge in Genoa collapsed in 2018. 

The accident may have been caused by a broken cable at the top of the system, according to ANSA news agency. 

‘It is a very serious accident,’ Walter Milan, a spokesman for the national alpine rescue service told RaiNews24 television.  

The rescue call arrived just after 12pm and the cable car had fallen from very high and was now sitting, ‘crumpled’ in the woods below, Milan added. 

He noted that the cable line had been renovated in 2016 and had only recently reopened after coronavirus lockdowns forced the closures of ski lifts across Italy.   

The cable car service first opened in August 1970 after almost three years of works to replace a cog railway, its website said.

The dual cable system is split into two sections, just over two kilometres between Stresa and Alpino and another three kilometres between Alpino and Mottarone. It consist of two cars – in alternate directions – with each one carrying up to 40 passengers, it added.

The mountain hosts a small amusement park, Alpyland, that has a children’s rollercoaster, and the area also has mountain bike paths and hiking trails. 

Severino said that important maintenance works, including changing the cables, had been carried out in recent years. ‘All of this is hard to believe,’ she said.

One person who saw the crash told MailOnline: ‘It was a very steep drop, so the cable car tumbled for a while before stopping against some trees. 

‘The police (and others) are at the scene of the incident and are trying to identify the people. It is a devastating morning for all of us.’ 

According to newspaper Corriere Della Serra, two children have been taken by air ambulance to hospital in Turin. 

The youngest child, a boy, suffered head trauma, thoracoabdominal trauma and lower limb fractures but is still conscious, according to Sky Italia.  

Corriere Della Serra said that rescue efforts have been made more difficult by the fact that the cabin fell into a wood in an inaccessible area. 

The Italian fire service, emergency crews are currently working at the area. 

They tweeted: ‘A cabin of the cable car connecting Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone fell. There are people dead, the toll is provisional.

‘Teams #vigilidelfuoco at work. On the spot the helicopter of the Varese flight department’. 

The national alpine rescue service said on Twitter: ‘Serious accident on the Stresa-Mottarone cable car. Alpine rescue, and other rescue teams on site. Two helicopter ambulances intervened.’ 

The incident comes 20 years after 40 tourists had to be rescued after a cable car got stuck on the line in 2001. The tourists had to be rescued after the cable car stopped shortly after leaving the terminal in Stresa. 

The Mottarone cable car was opened in 1970. It reaches a height of 4,900ft and takes tourists from the town of Stresa, to the top of the mountain, in 20 minutes.  

Mount Mottarone is considered a ‘natural balcony’ and boasts panoramic views across the Po Valley to the Alps. 

Seven lakes are visible from the summit, which is a 15 minute walk from the cable car station, they include Lake Maggiore, Italy’s second largest, Lake Orta and Lake Mergozzo.

The area became popular in the early 1900s when the area opened up for skiing and winter sports.   

Since it has seen many people go to enjoy scenic walks, including the Mottarone Alpino Stressa route, a four hour walk from the top of Mottarone which is reached by cable car.

Under a traffic light system, British holidaymakers can travel to a small list of 12 green list countries – including Portugal – without having to quarantine on their return.  

Italy is currently on the Amber list which requires them to quarantine for 14 days at home upon return, but they avoid the expensive hotel quarantine required for people visiting red list states.