Italy cable car fall: Eight dead after accident near Lake Maggiore

At least eight people have been killed after a cable car fell near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, according to rescuers and news reports.

Local emergency services said the accident happened on a service transporting passengers from the resort town of Stresa in the Piedmont region.

Alpine rescue and air helicopter emergency services responded to the serious accident about midday Sunday.

Officials say two children were taken from the scene to a Turin hospital.

An image posted on social media by emergency services showed the wreckage of the cable car lying in a wooded area.

“It is a very serious accident,” Walter Milan, a spokesman for the national alpine rescue service told RaiNews24 television, adding the vehicle was left “crumpled” after falling from a high height.

The website for the Stresa-Alpine-Mottarone cable car said it usually takes 20 minutes to transport passengers 1,491m (4,900ft) above sea level.

Local reports suggest the rope carrying it may have failed about 300m from the top of the mountain station.

Italian news agency Ansa said the cable car had been carrying 11 people before the accident. The cable car had recently reopened following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions, Reuters reported.