Naples cable car tragedy: Italian police launch manslaughter probe as two Brits confirmed dead

Italian prosecutors have opened a multiple manslaughter probe into the deaths of four people, including two Brits, killed in a cable car disaster in Italy.

The disaster happened at around 3pm on Thursday in Castellammare di Stabia, on the Gulf of Naples, when a traction cable reportedly gave way, causing the cable car to descend rapidly for several metres before crashing into a support pillar. Prosecutor of Torre Annunziata, Nunzio Fragliasso, said: "We are in the preliminary phase of the investigations". The unnamed British couple died alongside an woman and the driver of the cable car, named by Italian media as 59-year-old Carmine Parlato. A fourth tourist is understood to be in intensive care at the Ospedale del Mare hospital in Naples. It is feared bad may have played a part in the tragedy, which came after a yellow weather alert was declared from 2pm, due to the risk of thunderstorms.

The popular attraction, which offers panoramic views of nearby Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples over its 3km journey and carried more than 108,000 passengers last year, had only reopened for the tourist season ten days ago after meeting all safety conditions.

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According to reports in Italy, the cable car set off at 2.40pm before a problem was identified six minutes later, which should have triggered the system's emergency brakes. According to initial findings, the cabin remained on the wire for a few seconds, then came crashing down.

But when rescuers originally got to the scene, which was covered in fog, they initially believed the car was suspended somewhere above them, obscured by the weather.

At 4.45pm, witnesses heard rescuers shouting hopefully: "They are above, they are above." Locals, including the dead cable car driver's worried wife, waited for updates at a nearby station, as constant attempts were made to contact him on his phone.

However, at 5.15pm the previous optimism was eroded, when an investigator told them: "The cabin has fallen, there are victims."

Another cable car, containing 16 people, was trapped in the air as a result of the incident and had to be rescued, with footage in Italian media showing survivors being transferred from the cars in harnesses.

Eav CEO Umberto De Gregorio said: "What happened is an unimaginable, unforeseeable tragedy, which will obviously need to be clarified. We have a very high-quality operations manager. Sometimes it closes in the presence of strong winds, evidently today he deemed that the conditions were not such as to impose the stop.

"The director of operations decides on weather conditions. In this case, it was evidently deemed that the conditions were not such as to warrant a closure."

Mayor Luigi Vicinanza Sindaco said in a statement on : "Due to the serious events of the Faito cable car, all events planned for the Easter holidays are cancelled."

A spokesman for the Foreign Office told the : "We are monitoring the situation following an incident in Italy and are in contact with the local authorities."

It is not the first time the Faito cable car has known tragedy. On August 15, 1960, due to human error, one of the cabins reached the valley without being able to stop its course before falling onto the underlying tracks of the Circumvesuviana railway line, leaving four people dead and 31 injured.

More recently, it remained closed for works for four years, until the last reopening, which took place in 2016.