ROME (AP) – Three tourists, including a British couple, were among the four people killed when a mountain cable vehicle plunged into Naples’ southern valley, officials confirmed Saturday.
The UK’s Foreign, Federal and Development Authority said in a statement that it was “supporting the families of a British couple who died in Italy and are in contact with local authorities.”
On the Friday the day after the accident, a spokesman for Mayor Vico Equense said the pair were siblings, but confirmed on Saturday that it was based on bad information.
The Israeli woman was the third foreign victim identified after the accident on Thursday.
The fourth victim was an Italian driver of the cable car. The fifth tourist, said to be the brother of the Israeli victim, is in a stable but critical state at a Naples hospital, officials said.
The first report suggested that the traction cable may have snapped when the cable car promoted Montefight in the town of Castella Malledistia. The cable car was about 1,050 meters (3,400 feet) and stopped near the top station of the peak before plunging into the valley.
Sixteen passengers were rescued by another cable car that was stuck in the air near the foot of the mountain after the incident.
The accident resumed in the season just a week after the cable car was popular with views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples. An average of approximately 110,000 visitors each year.
Emergency services, including Italy’s alpine rescue, more than 50 firefighters, police and civil protection officials worked in the evening in harsh weather conditions, with fog and strong winds making rescue operations difficult.
“The towing cable broke. The downstream emergency brakes worked, but obviously the shed was not the one that was in the station,” said Luigi Vicinanza, mayor of Castellamare di Stiatia, on Thursday. He added that there were regular safety checks on the cable car line, which runs from the town to the top of the mountain, 3 km (1.8 miles).
Local prosecutors have launched an investigation into manslaughter charges that could include testing cable stations, pylons, two cabins and cables, officials said Friday.
The company that operates the EAV public transport service said seasonal cable cars have reopened in all the necessary safety conditions.
“The reopening took place day and night after three months of testing every day,” said EAV president Humberto de Gregorio. “This is inexplicable.”
DeGregorio said technical experts believe there is no connection between the bad weather and the cause of the crash. “We have an automated system. Once the wind exceeds a certain level, the cable car will automatically stop,” he said.
The Montefight Cable Car opened in 1952. Four people died in 1960 when the pylon broke.
Italy has documented two similar fatal accidents involving cable cars in recent years.
A cable car accident in northern Italy in May 2021 killed 14 people, including six Israelis. In 1998, a low-flight US jet plane passed through the cables of a dolomite cavalry ski lift, killing 20 people.
