Four people died, and one was seriously injured on Thursday after a cable car crashed near the city of Naples in southern Italy.
The accident occurred at Monte Faito, a mountain peak located approximately 45 kilometers southeast of Naples.
There were five people in the cabin: four passengers and the cabin operator, who also died, as reported by La Stampa.
A fifth person in the cabin was rescued in serious condition and taken to the hospital. The president of the region, Vincenzo De Luca, stated that the victims were tourists.
According to the Italian press, one of the cables broke while the cabin was crossing the valley.
Rescue teams continue their operations, but very unfavorable weather conditions, including fog, wind, and rain, significantly hinder efforts to reach the location where the cabin crashed at an altitude of 1,500 meters.
The mayor of Castellammare di Stabia - where the cable car was located - stated that it was believed a traction cable had snapped. He added that there were regular safety checks on the cable car system.
Italian newspapers reported on Thursday, before the accident occurred, that the system had stopped due to a malfunction and several people were rescued from another cabin that stopped near the city blocks. The 16 passengers were saved.
Social media images captured the evacuation of passengers using special harnesses.
The worst cable car accident in Naples occurred in 1960 when due to human error, one of the cabins fell onto a railway line. The incident resulted in four deaths and 31 injuries. Extensive maintenance work was carried out on the system following the tragedy, and the cabins were replaced, as reported by the Italian newspaper.
Since then, the system has experienced several malfunctions without causing casualties. The most recent technical incident occurred in July 2021 when, due to a power failure, a cabin remained stuck for over an hour with 31 people on board - 26 adults and 5 children. They were all rescued only when a backup generator came into operation.
A similar accident occurred in 2021 in northern Italy, when a cable car connecting Lake Maggiore crashed into a nearby mountain, resulting in the death of 14 people.