Four dead in Italian cable car accident near Naples

Four people have died and one is seriously injured after a cable car crashed to the ground near Naples in southern Italy on Thursday, mountain rescue services and firefighters said.

Reports said a cable broke on the three-kilometer service taking tourists to Mount Faito – a scenic peak offering views of the Mount Vesuvius volcano and the Bay of Naples – from the town of Castellammare di Stabia, around 45 kilometers south of the city.  

"Four lifeless bodies were found, while a fifth injured person was rescued and taken to hospital," the fire department said in a Telegram post, adding that this was a final toll. 

Over 50 firefighters took part in rescue efforts. One of the four people killed was a cable car operator from a nearby town, media said. 

The others were two British and one Israeli tourist, they reported. A second Israeli was injured and in stable but serious condition, the Naples hospital treating him said on Friday.

As the supporting cable snapped, a second cabin halted in mid-air near the foot of the mountain, thanks to emergency brakes which are presumed to have failed to function for the car that crashed. Footage showed passengers evacuated one-by-one with harnesses. 

The cable car had just reopened for the summer season and prosecutors in the nearby town of Torre Annunziata said they have launched an investigation into the accident.

"The cable-car reopened 10 days ago with all the required safety conditions," said Umberto de Gregorio, chairman of the EAV public transport company which runs the cable car service. 

"What happened today is an unimaginable, unforeseeable tragedy," he added.

Fog and high winds hampered the work of emergency services, Vincenzo De Luca, head of the Campania region around Naples, told RAI. "For Campania it was a truly tragic and painful day," he wrote on social media.

Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who was on a trip to Washington, expressed "sincere condolences" to the families of the victims, her office said. 

The cable car has been operating since 1952 and a similar accident in 1960 also left four dead. 

In May 2021, a cable car crashed in the Italian Alps near Lake Maggiore, killing 14 people. In 1998, 20 people in a cable car in the Dolomites were killed when a U.S. fighter jet on a low-level training flight cut a steel cable.