Eight die after cable car fall in Italy

[CeramicMX5ND2]

Terrible accident reported in Italy near Lake Maggiore.. Reports say eleven on board and eight reported killed...
Never been in one but I'd be pretty scared anyway..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57219737

[Fat hippo]

Yes, very sad.
Always get nervous in these. Took the kids on one in Switzerland a few years back and couldn’t help thinking what would happen if the cable snapped

[FourWheelDrift]

No low flying American military jets around this time? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_d...

[105.4]

Bloody hell

[-crookedtail-]

Crikey, that is an awful way to go!

These and ski lifts do freak me out though, some of them look very shonky indeed. I believe there was an incident, also in Italy, back in the 90s where a military plane hit the cable. Terrifying.

Obviously, it is very early days here, hopefully, they'll be able to ascertain what happened. Not that it will help these poor folks.

[Insert Coin]

-crookedtail- said:

I believe there was an incident, also in Italy, back in the 90s where a military plane hit the cable. Terrifying.

I wonder if there’s a wiki article on this?

[ReallyReallyGood]

The stuff of nightmares

[Teddy Lop]

Oh great, these things terrify me as it is.

Italians really aren't doing well with their infrastructure.

[-crookedtail-]

Insert Coin said:

I wonder if there’s a wiki article on this?

I was actually writing my post when the other link above was posted.

Not the thread to be impertinent chap, if that indeed, was your aim. If not, see above..

[Murph7355]

Insert Coin said:

-crookedtail- said:

I believe there was an incident, also in Italy, back in the 90s where a military plane hit the cable. Terrifying.

I wonder if there’s a wiki article on this?

Someone on PH is likely to be along who knows...

[Simbu]

We were on this exact cable car 2 years ago with our one year old daughter . Horrendous incident to have happened...

[Oakey]

It ďoesn't look that high relative to the trees but I guess it would have rolled down the mountain quite a bit once it landed?

[CeramicMX5ND2]

Murph7355 said:

Someone on PH is likely to be along who knows...

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marine-jet-severs-ski-lift-cable-in-italy

[Simbu]

Oakey said:

It ?oesn't look that high relative to the trees but I guess it would have rolled down the mountain quite a bit once it landed?

It's a very steep incline and the cars looked essentially like a steel panel box. They certainly didn't seem designed to at all withstand this kind of failure.

[dvs_dave]

Terrifying and tragic. I wonder if the fact that it hadn’t been in operation for quite some time due to COVID played a role in the disaster? Something quietly deteriorated/corroded away and went unnoticed?

[Dogwatch]

Surely there’d be more than one cable car on the cable?

[Heartworm]

Dogwatch said:

Surely there’d be more than one cable car on the cable?

Normally only 2 on a cable car, 1 going up /1 going down.

[ChocolateFrog]

Now saying 12 dead, despite still saying 11 on board.

Would be a tragic way to go having a cable car fall on you.

[Simbu]

There is also a stop part way up the mountain. I can't remember if the same cable system spans the entire length to the top. It sounds like the upper part of the system has failed in this case.

[Muddle238]

Heartworm said:

Dogwatch said:

Surely there’d be more than one cable car on the cable?

Normally only 2 on a cable car, 1 going up /1 going down.

On bigger cable cars yes, but it’s not uncommon to have multiple smaller cable car “pods” all following each other up and down simultaneously, usually about four or five people per pod, and all on the same cable. The pictures in the article seem to be the smaller pod type, so I imagine several pods fell. Terrible way to go.