Naples: Four killed after cable snaps, sending cable car plummeting into Italian mountain range

A terrifying scenario has played out as a cable car plummeted and crashed into a mountain, killing at least four people in the southern Italian Alps.

The four tourists were killed after the cables reportedly snapped sending the car spiralling down onto the mountain range near Naples which sits at least 1100m above sea level.

Emergency services confirmed the deaths after over 50 firefighters were involved in the recvovery and said another person was “extremely seriously injured” in the crash at Mount Faito.

Local media are reporting that the cabin had been near the top of the mountain when one of the cables supporting it snapped.

The accident happened on Thursday at Monte Faito, a peak around 45km southeast of Naples.

“The cabin at the top has crashed,” Umberto De Gregorio, chairman of the EAV public transport company which runs the cable car service, wrote on Facebook, calling it “a tragedy”.

Sixteen passengers were helped out of a cabin that stopped in mid-air near the foot of the mountain. They were evacuated one by one, using harnesses, footage on RAI public television and other media showed.

Vincenzo De Luca, head of the Campania region around Naples, told RAI that rescue operations were hampered by fog and high winds.

In 2021 14 people died in Italy when a cable car linking the northern Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain plunged to the ground.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences for the victims and their families and said she was in touch with rescuers.

She was in Washington DC where she met with US President Donald Trump.

The mayor of Castellammare di Stabia - where the cable car was located - said it was believed a traction cable had snapped.

“The emergency brake downstream worked but clearly not the one on the cabin that was about to reach the top of the hill,” he told Italian media.

He added that there had been regular safety checks on the cable car line which runs three kilometres from the town to the top of the mountain.

With AAP.