Cable Car Accident Leaves 4 Injured, 100 Stranded on Mountain for Hours

A frightening cable car malfunction in northern Italy left four people injured and roughly 100 tourists stranded high on a mountain Tuesday, forcing a dramatic helicopter rescue just days after the busy holiday rush.

The accident involved the Macugnaga cable car, which carries visitors up to the Moro Pass near the Swiss border, reaching elevations of about 9,000 feet. Authorities said the trouble began when one of the cabins reached the upper station at an unexpectedly high speed.

A spokesperson for Italy’s Alpine rescue services told Agence France-Presse that the cabin appears not to have slowed properly before arriving at the station, triggering the crash. Fire officials later confirmed that two cabins were involved and struck parts of both the upper and lower stations.

Three of the 15 passengers inside the upper cabin were injured, along with an operator at the lower station. Officials said none of the injuries were life-threatening. The most serious case involved a 59-year-old man who suffered an arm injury, according to Filippo Besozzi, an administrator with the company that operates the cable car, speaking to ANSA.

The incident unfolded around 11:30 a.m. local time. With dozens of visitors trapped at the summit, emergency crews launched a helicopter operation that took roughly three hours to safely evacuate everyone from the mountaintop.

Besozzi said the crash was caused by a technical issue that prevented the system from slowing as it entered the station, causing the cabin to strike a barrier. While the cable car itself did not appear to suffer major structural damage, it has been shut down for inspections. The system had been renovated as recently as 2023.

The scare comes during peak ski season, when crowds of Italians and international tourists flock to alpine resorts for Christmas and New Year’s vacations — and it revives painful memories of past cable car tragedies in the country.

Earlier this year, a cable car accident on Monte Faito, in the town of Castellammare di Stabia, killed four people after a cable snapped — just one week after the attraction reopened for the season. In 2021, another devastating crash near Lake Maggiore claimed 14 lives when a cable car plunged to the ground, leaving only a young child as the sole survivor.

Italian authorities say investigations are ongoing as safety checks continue on the Macugnaga line.