Two Britons are among the four people killed after a mountain car cable snapped and plunged into a ravine in southern Italy.
Four tourists and an engineer were on board the cable car when it plunged at “maximum speed” into woodland in Naples after striking a pylon on Thursday afternoon, triggering a major rescue operation in the face of bad weather and fog.
Initial reports suggested that a traction cable may have snapped as the cable car ascended Monte Faito, in the town of Castellammare di Stabia. The cable car plunged into a ravine after stopping very close to the station at the top of the peak, at around 3,400 feet.
The British victims were identified as Margaret Elaine Winn, 58, and Graeme Derek Winn, 65, Italian news agency Ansa reported.
Janan Suliman, an Arab woman with Israeli citizenship, was the third foreign victim to be identified, according to the outlet.
The fourth victim, Carmine Parlato, 59, who was the Italian driver of the cable car, has also been named by local media.
A fifth tourist, said to be the brother of the Israeli victim, is in a stable but critical condition at a Naples hospital, Marco De Rosa, a spokesperson for the mayor of Vico Equense, said.
Local prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible manslaughter, which will involve an inspection of the cable stations, the pylons, the two cabins and the cable, officials said.
Luigi Vicinanza, the mayor of Castellammare di Stabia, said on Thursday: “The traction cable broke. The emergency brake downstream worked, but evidently not the one on the cabin that was entering the station.”
He added there had been regular safety checks on the cable car line, which runs 1.8 miles from the town to the top of the mountain.
Mr De Luca called the day “truly tragic and painful” in a post on social media and said his thoughts went to those who died, those who were injured and their families, adding that he was grateful to the rescuers.
Following the incident, 16 passengers were helped out of another cable car that was stuck mid-air near the foot of the mountain.
The accident happened just a week after the cable car, which is popular for its views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, reopened for the season. It averages around 110,000 visitors each year.
The emergency services, including Italy’s alpine rescue, more than 50 firefighters, police and civil protection personnel, worked into the evening in severe weather conditions, with fog and strong winds making rescue operations difficult.
The company running the service, the EAV public transport firm, said the seasonal cable car had reopened with all the required safety conditions.
EAV president Umberto De Gregorio said: “The reopening had taken place a week ago after three months of tests every day, day and night. This is something inexplicable.”
Mr De Gregorio said technical experts believed there was no connection between the severe weather and the cause of the crash.
“There is an automatic system. When the wind exceeds a certain level, the cable car stops automatically,” he said.
A UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are dealing with an incident in Italy and are in contact with the local authorities. Our thoughts are with those affected.”
