Three of the tourists were killed when a cable car crashed south of Naples, Italy, including British and Israeli women, an Italian official said Friday.
Marco de Rosa, spokesman for Mayor Vico Elles, said only two of the three foreign victims have been identified since the accident Thursday.
According to the initial information, a towing cable was buckled and a car crashed up and down as they crossed Monte Faito in the town of Castellammare di Stabia. The accident happened just a week after the cable car, which was popular for its views of Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples, reopened the season.
Italian prosecutors have begun investigating multiple manslaughter and criminal disasters.
The fifth person, also believed to be a foreign tourist, suffered serious injuries and hospitalization in Naples, officials said. After the incident, 16 passengers were helped by a cable car trapped in the air near the foot of another mountain.
Italy's Alpine Rescue Company and more than 50 firefighters, police and the Civil Protection Agency worked at the site all Thursday night.
“The traction cable is disconnected. The downstream emergency brakes work, but are obviously not the one that enters the station,” Castellamare Mayor Luigi Vicinanza said on Thursday. He added that the cable car line was regularly inspected, which is three kilometers from town to the top of the mountain.
The company says it meets safety conditions
The company that EAV Public Transportation Company operates the service emphasizes that seasonal cable cars have reopened under all necessary safety conditions.
“After three months of testing every day, day and night, the reopening happened a week ago,” said EAV president Umberto de Gregorio. “It’s inexplicable.”
Investigators are checking the function of the cable car, as well as the possibility of strong winds in recent days.
A cable car crash in northern Italy in May 2021 killed 14 people, including six Israelis, including a family of four. In 1998, a low-flying US Army jet passed through the cables of the Cavales ski lift in the Dolomites and killed 20 people.
