At least 14 people, including one child, have died after a cable car fell to the ground on a mountainside in the north of Italy, emergency responders have said.
The Italian government launched an investigation to determine the causes of the crash on the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region.
A second child, thought to be around five years old, remains in hospital after the incident near the summit of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region, Italy’s Alpine rescue service said.
Walter Milan, a spokesman for the service, told Italian media it was a “very serious accident” with the car falling from a considerable height to the woods below.
Mr Milan said that 15 people had been travelling in the cable car at the time of the accident.
Several foreign nationals, including three Israelis and an Iran-born man, were killed along with Italian citizens in the cable car crash, according to local media reports.
Local police told Italy’s Adnkronos news agency the cab fell after a supporting cable on the line snapped.
Italy’s infrastructure minister, Enrico Giovannini, followed the rescue effort, which involved three helicopters, fire crews, police and mountain rescue services.
“We are trying to understand what has happened, but it is a truly terrible tragedy,” the minister said in a statement.
