Five Israelis were among the 14 people killed in Italy Sunday after a cable car they were taking up the Alps plummeted to the ground, the Foreign Ministry said. The victims were members of the same family – two maternal grandparents, two parents and their two-year-old child. The couple's older son, six years old, has been hospitalized in critical condition.
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The Foreign Ministry on Monday morning identified the victims as Amit Biran, 30, and Tal Peleg-Biran, 26, and their child, Tom, and the grandparents, Yitzhak Cohen, 82, and Barbara Cohen, 70. The Birans lived in Italy for some time and were active in the local Jewish community.
Israel's Ambassador to Italy, Dror Eydar, said in an interview with Army Radio that the child had an emergency operation and was in intensive care. "The matter is being investigated. We will not rest and not give up until we find out exactly what happened there," he assured.
The mayor of Stresa, where the incident occurred, said it appeared that a cable broke, sending the car careening until it hit a pylon and then fell to the ground. At that point, the car overturned "two or three times before hitting some trees," said Mayor Marcella Severino. Some of those who died were thrown from the cabin.
The Italian government announced a commission to investigate the disaster, which is likely to renew questions about the quality and safety of Italy's transport infrastructure.
Images from the site showed the crumpled car in a clearing of a thick patch of pine trees near the summit of the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore. The car was believed to have fallen around 15 meters (50 feet), according to Italian media.
"It was a terrible, terrible scene," Severino told Italy's SkyTG24.
The plunge on the Stresa-Mottarone line happened about 100 yards before the final pylon, said Walter Milan, spokesman for Italy's Alpine rescue service.
Milan noted that the cable line had been renovated in 2016 and had only recently reopened, after coronavirus lockdowns in Italy curtailed travel and forced the suspension of many leisure activities.
Italian Transport Minister Enrico Giovannini announced a commission to look into the tragedy and said he had already requested data on the maintenance work and inspections done on the line in the past. He planned to visit the site Monday.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in offering his condolences, called for the "rigorous respect of all security norms" in transportation.
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