Three tourists were among four people who were killed when a cable car crashed south of Naples, an Italian official said Friday.
According to Marco De Rosa, the spokesperson for the mayor of Vico Equense, a British woman and an Israeli woman were two of the three foreign victims who were identified following the accident on Thursday. The fourth victim was the Italian driver of the cable car.
Rescue workers recover a body at the scene of a cable car crash in Italy. (AP Photo/Salvatore Laporta)
The EAV public transport firm, which operates the service, emphasized that the seasonal cable car had been reopened with all necessary safety measures in place.
Umberto De Gregorio, the President of EAV, stated that the reopening of the cable car occurred a week before the tragic incident after undergoing three months of rigorous daily testing, both day and night. He remarked, “This is an incomprehensible event.”
De Gregorio said technical experts believed there was no connection between the severe weather and the cause of the crash. “There is an automatic system. When the wind exceeds a certain level, the cable car stops automatically,” he said.
The Monte Faito cable car opened in 1952. Four people died in 1960 when a pylon broke.
Italy has recorded two similar fatal accidents involving cable cars in recent years.
A cable car crash in May 2021 in northern Italy killed 14 people, including six Israelis, among them a family of four. In 1998, a low-flying U.S. military jet cut through the cable of a ski lift in Cavalese, in the Dolomites, killing 20 people.
