Italian cable car plunges to the ground, killing at least 14

A cable car taking visitors to a mountaintop view of a few of northern Italy's virtually all picturesque lakes plummeted to the bottom Sunday and then tumbled down the slope, killing 14 people. The lone survivor, a young child, was hospitalized in significant condition with broken bones, authorities said.

Six of the dead were Israeli residents, including a family group of four who lived found in Italy, the Israeli foreign ministry said. It wasn't very clear if the other couple was related.

The mayor of Stresa, where in fact the incident occurred, said it appeared that a cable broke, sending the automobile careening until it hit a pylon and fell to the bottom. At that point, the automobile overturned “several times before striking some trees," explained Mayor Marcella Severino. Some of those who died were thrown from the cabin.

The Italian government announced a commission to research the disaster, which will probably renew questions about the product quality and safety of Italy’s transport infrastructure.

Images from the site showed the crumpled car found in a clearing of a thick patch of pine trees near the summit of the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore. The automobile was believed to have fallen around 15 meters, according to Italian mass media.

“It was an awful, terrible picture," Severino told Italy's SkyTG24.

The plunge on the the Stresa-Mottarone line happened about 100 meters prior to the final pylon, said Walter Milan, spokesman for Italy’s Alpine rescue service.

By Sunday night, the loss of life toll had increased to 14 dead after one of two children taken to Turin's Regina Margherita children's medical center died. The child died after several tries to restart his center failed and “there is nothing more we could do," said hospital spokesman Pier Paolo Berra. The other young child, who arrived at a healthcare facility conscious, remained in major condition, authorities said.

Milan noted that the cable connection line have been renovated in 2016 and had only recently reopened after coronavirus lockdowns found in Italy curtailed travel and forced the suspension of many leisure activities. Milan suggested many families may possess flocked to the mountain on a sunny Sunday after months of restrictions.

The line is popular with tourists and locals alike to scale Mottarone, which reaches a height of 1 1,491 meters (4,900 feet) and overlooks several picturesque lakes and the encompassing Alps of Italy’s Piedmont region.

The mountain hosts a small amusement park, Alpyland, which has a children’s rollercoaster, and the region also has mountain motorcycle paths and hiking trails.

Premier Mario Draghi offered his condolences to the groups of the victims “with a particular considered the seriously injured kids and their own families."

Sunday's tragedy were Italy’s worst wire car disaster since 1998 whenever a low-flying U.S. armed service jet lower through the wire of a ski lift in Cavalese, in the Dolomites, killing 20 persons.

Italy’s transport minister, Enrico Giovannini, declared a commission to look into the tragedy and said he had already requested data in the maintenance job and inspections done at risk in the past. He planned to go to the site Monday.

While the trigger hasn’t been determined, the disaster was likely to raise questions about Italy’s transport infrastructure. In 2018, the Morandi bridge in Genoa collapsed after years of neglect, killing 43 people.

In '09 2009, a freight teach carrying gas derailed at the Viareggio station, near Lucca, and exploded, killing 32 persons. Poorly taken care of axels of the coach were blamed.

President Sergio Mattarella, in offering his condolences, needed the “rigorous value of most security norms” in transport.