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 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Friday that he spoke with U.S. President Donald J. Trump about the need to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense hours after Kyiv experienced its heaviest Russian air strikes since the outbreak of the war more than three years ago.
Britain has unveiled a controversial plan that will, in many cases, replace human doctors with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to Washington for more than just ceasefire talks with Hamas. According to Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, the visit is part of a strategic momentum push toward what many are calling a revived “Deal of the Century” — an ambitious and far-reaching Middle East peace initiative championed by President Donald Trump.
U.S. customs revenue has surged past $100 billion since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, signaling a major windfall from his aggressive trade strategy, according to internal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) documents obtained by Axios.
A massive wave of Russian drone and missile strikes pummeled Kyiv overnight in the largest aerial attack since the war began, just hours after a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The assault injured at least 23 civilians and left swaths of the capital damaged, including apartment buildings, rail infrastructure, and emergency response vehicles.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee declared Thursday that Hamas must be completely dismantled–drawing a sharp comparison to post-World War II Germany where the Nazis were barred from playing any future role. Speaking in a series of interviews, Huckabee reiterated President Donald Trump’s firm stance that Hamas will have “no future” in Gaza, calling any proposal that allows the terror group to retain power “as senseless as letting the Nazis rebuild Germany.”
The Trump administration on Thursday announced sweeping new sanctions aimed at crippling Iran’s oil revenue and its ability to fund terrorism and develop nuclear weapons.