By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NAPLES, ITALY (Worthy News) – An area near Italy’s southern city of Naples plunged into mourning early Friday after authorities confirmed that at least four people died and one was seriously injured when a cable car crashed to the ground.
Officials announced that a cable broke on the link taking tourists from the town of Castellammare di Stabia, on the Gulf of Naples, to Monte Faito, about three kilometers (1.8 miles) away.
“Four lifeless bodies were found, while a fifth injured person was rescued and taken to hospital,” the fire department said on social media, adding that this was a final toll.
It was expected to raise an ongoing debate about Italy’s sometimes crumbling infrastructure.
Vincenzo De Luca, the head of the Campania region around Naples, told Italian media that rescue operations were hampered by fog and high winds. More than 50 firefighters took part in rescue efforts.
One cabin carrying 16 passengers was close to Castellammare, and the passengers were put down on firm ground. A second cabin was above a precipice on Mount Faito, and fog delayed the rescue effort.
The cable car had just reopened for the summer season, and prosecutors said they had launched an investigation into the accident. “The cable car reopened 10 days ago with all the required safety conditions,” said Umberto de Gregorio, the head of the cable car company.
“What happened today is an unimaginable, unforeseeable tragedy.”
The cable car has been operating since 1952, and a similar accident in 1960 also left four dead, records showed.
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
It comes some four years after 14 people died in 2021 when a cable car linking Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain plunged to the ground in northern Italy.
In 1998, a US fighter jet flying at a low level on a training flight cut a steel cable, killing 20 people in a cable car in the Dolomites.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Israel expanded its military campaign against Hezbollah on Monday, striking more than 70 targets across Lebanon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to increase pressure on the Iranian-backed terror group following a sharp rise in drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel.
A federal appeals court is weighing whether Kansas City can use its public accommodation ordinance to require Christian counselors to counsel gay married couples despite the counselors’ biblical convictions on marriage and sexuality.
Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered in the Netherlands for one of Europe’s largest multi-day Christian events, with organizers and participants expressing hopes for spiritual revival in the nation and across Europe.
President Donald Trump pushed back Monday against sharp criticism from Republicans and former administration officials over a potential U.S.-Iran agreement, insisting that any final accord must prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or it will not be signed.
President Donald Trump said Monday that countries involved in negotiations over Iran should be required to join the Abraham Accords, signaling that the White House is seeking to turn a possible Iran agreement into a wider regional realignment that includes normalization with Israel.
Tensions remained high in Serbia’s capital Belgrade on Sunday after at least tens of thousands of people demanded elections and rallied against what they view as the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Aleksandar Vučić, with violence erupting after the protest and more than 20 people arrested.
Investigations were ongoing Sunday into the killing of three senior Kuki-Thadou Christian church leaders by unidentified gunmen in India’s northeastern Manipur State, Christian investigators told Worthy News.