Italy: at least 13 dead in the fall of a cable car on the shores of Lake Maggiore
Members of the police and rescue services near the cable car that crashed in Stresa, near Lake Maggiore, Italy on May 23, 2021. via REUTERS - ITALIAN POLICE
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The fall of a cable car cabin left 13 dead and two seriously injured Sunday 23 May in Stresa, a seaside resort in Piedmont on the shores of Lake Maggiore, in northern Italy, according to the latest aid report.
"The final toll of the tragic accident is 13 victims and two seriously injured helicopters in Turin," said Alpine Rescue on their Twitter account.
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The accident occurred around 12:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. UT) 100 meters from the last altitude station of the cable car.
It is believed to be due to a broken cable on the highest part of the course, causing the cabin in which 15 people were located to fall.
A problem of overload seemed immediately ruled out since these cabins can carry more than 35 passengers.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi expressed in a statement his "
deep pain
".
The president of the Piedmont region said he was "
devastated
".
"
It's a huge tragedy that takes our breath away
" responded Alberto Cirio.
The president of Liguria, a neighboring region of Piedmont, deplored an "
absurd tragedy
" when Italy finally benefits from deconfinement after months of health restrictions.
"
A reopening Sunday which should have been full of hopes
", underlined Giovanni Toti.
Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, expressed on Twitter, in a message in Italian, his "
most sincere condolences to the families and friends who lost a loved one in this tragic accident
".
The first images of the tragedy released by the authorities show firefighters and police officers around the debris of the red and white cabin, which fell in a wooded area whose steep slope makes access difficult.
The cable car connects the village of Stresa to Mount Mottarone in 20 minutes, which rises to almost 1,500 meters, offering spectacular views of Lake Maggiore and the Alps.
It had been closed between 2014 and 2016 for maintenance work.
The shores of Lake Maggiore, a pre-Alpine lake between Switzerland and Italy, are a popular destination for Italian and foreign tourists.
Cable car accidents in recent decades
Several fatal accidents involving cable cars, gondolas or funiculars have taken place in Europe for 50 years.
The most recent dates back to September 5, 2005, when an 800 kilogram block of concrete fell off the helicopter carrying it and fell on a cable car near Sölden in the Austrian Tyrol, killing nine skiers. Germans.
In Italy, an accident occurred on February 3, 1998: an American military plane cut the cable of a cable car in Cavalese, a ski resort in the Dolomites, killing the 20 passengers in the cabin.
Still in Cavalese but 20 years earlier, in 1976, a breakage of a carrier cable had caused a cabin to fall, killing 42 people.
(
With AFP
)
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