Four people have died after a mountain cable car cabin plunged to the ground near Naples in southern Italy, emergency services say.
Italian media has reported that two Britons and two Israelis were killed, which has not been confirmed.
Another person was "extremely seriously injured" in the crash at Mount Faito and airlifted to hospital, officials said.
Local media outlets said that the cabin had been near the top of the mountain when one of the cables supporting it snapped.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation as officials confirmed the victims were three passengers and the driver of the cable car.
A second cabin was also on the line at the time but located near the bottom of the valley – 16 people were rescued from it and winched to safety.
The president of the region, Vincenzo De Luca, said all the victims were tourists.
The UK foreign office said it is in contact with Italian authorities, but has not confirmed the local media reports of the identities of those killed.
De Luca added that poor weather conditions including fog, wind and rain had made it difficult for rescuers to access the area where the cabin had crashed.
More than 50 firefighters took part in the rescue efforts, the fire department said.
Italian media reported that the cable car had been travelling over a steep area when the cable snapped. Mount Faito is some 1,100m above sea level.
The mayor of Castellammare di Stabia – where the cable car was located – said it was believed a traction cable had snapped.
"The emergency brake downstream worked but clearly not the one on the cabin that was about to reach the top of the hill," he told Italian media.
He added that there had been regular safety checks on the cable car line which runs three kilometres from the town to the top of the mountain.
The company which runs the service, the EAV public transport firm, said the seasonal cable car had "reopened 10 days ago with all the required safety conditions".
"What happened today is an unimaginable, unforeseeable tragedy," EAV's CEO Umberto de Gregorio said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was on a trip to Washington at the time of the incident, expressed her "sincere condolences" to the families of the victims.
The Mount Faito cable car has been operating since 1952. A similar accident on the line in 1960 left four people dead.
In 2021,14 people died when a cable car linking Lake Maggiore in Italy's northern Piedmont region with a nearby mountain plummeted to the ground. The cause was determined to be a snapped cable and emergency brake failure.
You can get in touch by following this link
Gas canisters were set off when the carabinieri entered the property near Verona in northern Italy.
Drone footage shows blaze destroying the historic Bernaga Monastery in Italy.
Pro-Palestinian marches gripped Italy's cities on Friday, defying the right-wing government of Giorgia Meloni.
The Global Sumud Flotilla accused an Israeli vessel of steering "dangerously close" to one of its boats.
Italy's defence minister directs a navy vessel to assist the flotilla's boats after what he says was a drone attack by unidentified perpetrators off Crete.
Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
 

source