Six injured and greater than 100 stranded as cable automotive slams into mountain station barrier ‘after approaching 9,000ft summit too shortly’
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Six people, including a child, were left injured after a cable car slammed into a station barrier while approaching a mountain summit ‘too quickly’ in Italy.
Around one hundred people were also left stranded following the incident, which took place at the Macugnaga cable car, in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola region of Piedmont.
Local media reports claim the cable car arrived at the station, over 9,000ft in the air, too quickly.
The surrounding ski slopes were closed, and the ski lift was halted following the incident. Those stranded are being evacuated from the mountain by helicopter.
Firefighters are working on the scene to rescue those injured and stranded.
The six injured were immediately treated by on-site medics, but are set to be transported to a local hospital via air ambulance.
Filippo Besozzi, the director of Macugnaga Trasporti e Servizi, told Ansa: ‘We had a technical problem.
‘We’re evaluating it; initial reports suggest the train didn’t decelerate properly when entering the station and hit the station barrier’.
Around one hundred people were also left stranded following the incident, which took place at the Macugnaga cable car, in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola region of Piedmont
Macugnaga, in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola region of Piedmont, Italy. (Stock image)
Besozzi reassured that none of the skiers were left with serious injuries, and that no one’s life is in danger due to the incident.
‘We had a few people in the cabin; I can’t say exactly how many at this time, and the one with the most serious injuries is a 59-year-old man with a wound to his arm. Others suffered minor grazes,’ he said.
The ski lift, built in 1962, underwent a major overhaul in early 2023, including the replacement of motors, pulleys, and cabins.
The work cost €2million, of which €1.8million was funded by the Piedmont Region and €200,000 by the Municipality of Macugnaga.
It comes after a British couple died alongside two others when a cable car they were travelling in plummeted 100ft into an Italian mountainside in April.
Elaine Winn, 58, and her husband Graeme Winn, 64, were just 20 seconds away from the top of Monte Faito, which overlooks the bay of Naples, when tragedy struck.
The couple had set off up the mountain in one of the cableway’s two cabins, leaving from the station in the historic town of Castellammare di Stabia at 2.40pm.
Six minutes later, with the cabin understood to have nearly reached the safety of the terminal at the top of the 3,700ft peak, it ground to a halt.
The cabin then plummeted nearly 100ft into the tree-covered ravine below, with its metal walls crumpled by thick branches as it split into pieces.
Parts of it became lodged in the tree canopy, while other bits of debris rolled down the slope, with the people inside thrown across the forest.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
