The cable car gives access to the Mottarone ski area from Stresa. It is a blow to the area which has suffered grievously from the effects of Covid. Most of the hotels have been closed since last spring with a knock on effect on other businesses.
Poignant for me, I've taken the cable car down having rollerskied up to Alpino/Mottarone from Stresa a couple of years back right after the cableway reopened after a long shutdown.
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Now 12 dead - What a tragedy:-(
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After all it is free
Terrible. One wonders if the covid shutdown (meaning, deviation from normal operations) caused unforeseen problems here.....and elsewhere. These lift systems have a lot to inspect and don't maintain themselves.
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The final toll seems to be 13 dead and 2 kids (aged 5 and 9) rushed to hospital. Apparently the cable car can hold up to 40, so it could have been even worse.....
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This is a rare and horrific accident - this is the first of it's type in the last few decades is it not? Awful, awful news.
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@userscott, I think the last Italian cable car accident was in 1998 when 20 people died in the Cavalese cable car accident. That of course was caused by reckless USAF personnel ignoring low flying restrictions resulting in the aircraft cutting one of the cables.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Scooter in Seattle wrote:
Terrible. One wonders if the covid shutdown (meaning, deviation from normal operations) caused unforeseen problems here.....and elsewhere. These lift systems have a lot to inspect and don't maintain themselves.
I had that exact thought … They are having a hard time financially too … I hope this is not a question of corners cut. This is ofcourse only speculations at this point.
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14 people dead, awful. Just hope it isn’t a lack of maintenance issue that is behind this.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Terrible and I’m sure the worst nightmare for many of us.
I’d always assumed (hoped) that there were multiple cables on these big cars ie not a single point of failure?
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
An awful tragedy. We all live by a thread. No real control in our lives so no point to panic, it can't help.
BTW, they just announced here that 6 of the victims are Israeli. Apparently the parents and their 2 children were living in Italy, and two older persons came to visit. Probably their folks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Boris, the typical design would be for a single fixed suspension cable and a moving drive cable (this appears to be the case here). In normal operation the wheels of the cars run over the fixed cable and the car is pulled along by the thinner drive cable. My understanding is that the thinner drive cable should be able to support the car in the extremely unlikely event of a failure of the suspension cable but I might be wrong about that. There are now designs using two suspension cables (one type is called "3S", an example of the same name is in Kitzbühel), this allows the cable cars to be used in windier conditions.
Reports suggest (and fits with the image noted above) that the drive cable broke for some reason causing the car to start an uncontrolled descent until it hit a pylon which in turn caused it to come adrift from the suspension cable and then crash to the ground below. The failed cable partially blocked an access track causing issues for the rescue teams. Clearly this is only speculation based on various eye witness reports and will need to be officially confirmed. The investigation will not only need to ascertain why the cable broke but also why the various safety devices which are supposed to stop an uncontrolled descent (much like in a lift) failed to function.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@munich_irish, thank you - interesting stuff - if that’s case definitely questions as to why (by sounds of it)multiple systems failed
Unfortunately bad quality, but a must watch vor every Snowhead!
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Another article with a more detailed description of the events based on various eye witness reports https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/seilbahnunglueck-absturz-italien-lago-maggiore-1.5302588 . Basically the car was slowing down to enter the top station when the drive cable snapped, the car started descending, the emergency brake did not engage, after hitting the first pylon the car left the suspension cable and crashed to the ground. The cables were checked using x rays by the large well known lift company Leitner last November. From what is known it appears the lift was properly maintained.
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Boris wrote:
@munich_irish, thank you - interesting stuff - if that’s case definitely questions as to why (by sounds of it)multiple systems failed
Pretty much every disaster involving safety critical equipment involves multiple systems failures - for obvious reasons.
Awful.
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Local authorities have just said, that they cannot rule out, that there isn’t a crime behind the accident - Wonder what makes them use those words?
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Quote:
Wonder what makes them use those words?
Maybe because some journalist kept asking "Can you rule out that this was sabotage?". To which, clearly, the only truthful answer is "No".
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
pam w wrote:
Quote:
Wonder what makes them use those words?
Maybe because some journalist kept asking "Can you rule out that this was sabotage?". To which, clearly, the only truthful answer is "No".
Makes sense.
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DanishRider wrote:
Local authorities have just said, that they cannot rule out, that there isn’t a crime behind the accident - Wonder what makes them use those words?
Because there have been some of late - none causeing death or harm to people (that I know of) , but major destruction of lifts.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
DanishRider wrote:
Local authorities have just said, that they cannot rule out, that there isn’t a crime behind the accident - Wonder what makes them use those words?
Having watched too much Montalbano I think it is because that is the way the Italina system works after ant unforeseen death ..the Policia Di Stato have to investigate these occurances and report to the examining magistrate ..also all transport policing come under their jurisdiction
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Isn't it the same for unexplained death in the UK? When my husband died suddenly a police officer was summoned before the doctor and paramedics left, to oversee what was happening, didn't leave until his body had been taken away, took notes, asked me questions (e.g. what he had eaten) etc etc. I guess once the post mortem had established the cause of death (cardiac failure) the police were "stood down" but if there were toxicology implications they'd have piled in an investigated a possible murder.
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@pam w, that's quite a story and awful for both of you of course; strong of you to share it. I'm assuming you're fine with their response, which seems professional and appropriate, if not exactly empathetic.
These people are trained: when I called for an aid car for my mom, whom I'd found unconscious, they arrived and walked right past her, which I didn't like. But they went right to the stove that she'd turned on hours earlier, and the water was long gone from the pot, and I hadn't noticed anything other than my mom, and which could have set the complex on fire had I not shown up, and turned it off. They were great.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Scooter in Seattle, I was completely satisfied with the emergency response which included two ambulances and a helicopter, as well as the poor policeman, who was professional but also quiet, unobtrusive and empathetic. No complaints at all. My OH had the easiest job - the doctor said he would have been dead before he hit the floor. I wouldn't mind going like that, one day. Whereas being in that cable car would have been, as already noted, like the worst nightmare. That poor little boy.....
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Thursday's stage of the Giro d'Italia has been diverted to avoid going over the Mottarone as originally planned.
I think the rules on manslaughter are even more stringent in continental countries - so any form of maintenance failure can be construed as such.
I recall in the old days there always used to be an attendant in a cable car - presumably manually to take the actions that are supposed to be automated.
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It appears as if the cable car system had mechanical problems and that the emergency brake on the car that crashed had had its emergency brake disabled by the operators. There was also CCTV in the top station which has recorded what happened. No explanation as yet as to why the cable broke. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/seilbahn-lago-maggiore-festnahme-1.5304195
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@munich_irish, that's criminal greed. That cable car should not have been in use.
After all it is free
After all it is free
There is more detail here https://www.corriere.it/ but I dont read Italian (just about cope with reading a restaurant menu!) and google translate isnt up to much but there does seem to be a rather murky story behind all this. A lot of confusion about who actually owned the cable car and who was responsible for paying for maintenance.
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@munich_irish, that's pretty damning, assuming all true. I believe some of the senior management from Champoluc are still in jail for the tragedy of the Crest lift in 1983.
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Apparently the cable car can hold up to 40, so it could have been even worse.....
