Mother dies in cable automobile horror after being snagged and falling 500ft
- Margherita Lega, 41, had been hiking with her family in the Italian Alps
A mother has plunged 500ft to her death from a cable car in Italy after she was dragged away by the mountain lift system in front of her horrified family.
The woman, named as Margherita Lega, had reportedly been hiking with her family in Calasca Castiglione in the Italian Alps when the incident happened at around 11am today.
The 41-year-old had been loading luggage onto the teleferica machine – used to move heavy objects rather than people – when she became snagged on the contraption and it switched on.
She clung on as it carried her more than 50 yards over a cliff edge, before she was no longer able to hold her weight and plunged to her death, La Repubblica reports.
Her children are being looked after while her husband has been taken to the local police station following the incident, which is now being investigated.
The woman, named as Margherita Lega, had been hiking near Calasca Castiglione (pictured) when the incident happened at around 11am this morning
More than 100 emergency personnel including firefighters, police and mountain rescue teams attended the scene.
With the help of a helicopter and climbers on the ground, they eventually located the woman’s body in the valley.
Alpine rescue crewmembers recovered her body by winching themselves down from the helicopter and pulling the woman out of the ravine by air.
Prosecutors reportedly sealed off the teleferica as they look into whether all the correct safety measures were observed at the site.
The system is reported to have restarted suddenly, with the reason as to why being investigated.
The incident took place in the Anzasca Valley, a popular hiking area in the Piedmont northeast of Turin.
Ms Lega is said to have been from Fiavè, a small town in Italy’s northeastern Trento region, a four hour drive from Calasca Castiglione.
