- Title: ITALY: FORTY TWO PEOPLE KILLED IN WORLD'S WORST CABLE CAR DISASTER.
- Date: 10th March 1976
- Summary: 1. GV PAN Rescue workers to crashed cable car in trees. 0.10 2. CU Cable car wreckage. (2 shots) 0.29 3. CU Wheel among wreckage. 0.34 4. GV PAN Wreckage to skiing equipment scattered on ground. 0.42 5. GV PAN Snow covered mountains to wreckage. 0.51 6. SV Police in foreground, wreckage in background. 0.58 7. GV People standing around wreckage. 1.04 Initials VS 22.10 VS 23.00 TELERECORDING Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 25th March 1976 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CAVALESE, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA328EUBTZ4DPIENR9KDCMICCYJ
- Story Text: Forty-two people, including 15 children died when a cable car crashed 160 feet (50 metres) to the ground near the Italian ski resort of Cavalese on Tuesday (9 March).
Of the six people pulled alive from the wreckage after the crash, only one survived, a 14-year-old girl from Milan.
The red cable car was packed with skiers, mostly Italians West Germans and Austrians returning from an afternoon in the snow.
Police said only 27 of the victims had been identified.
The survivor, Alessandra Piovesana is in hospital in a critical condition after breaking both her legs and pelvis.
It is thought the crash may have been caused by a sudden jamming of the car's traction cable. This would have snapped the main support cable holding the cabin.
An eye witness told an Italian radio interviewer the cabin appeared to suddenly reverse then slip backwards into the mountainside.
The disaster was made worse when three-ton cable support on the pylon crashed down on top of the cabin.
SYNOPSIS: Forty two people, including 15 children, were killed when this cable car crashed near the Italian ski resort of Cavalese on Tuesday.
It was the worst cable car crash in world history. Rescue workers managed to pull six people alive from the wreckage, but five of them later died. The only survivor was 14-year old girl from Milan. Only 27 of the victims have so far been identified.
the cabin was packed with skiers returning from an afternoon in the snow. Police hope the survivor, Alessandra Piovesana, may be able to help piece together the cause of the accident.
An eyewitness said he saw the cabin suddenly reverse, then slip backwards into the mountainside. This has led experts to believe the traction cable may have jammed, snapping the support cable.
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