The Cavalese cable car disaster of 1976 is the deadliest cable car accident ever. On 9 March 1976, the steel supporting cable of an aerial tramway broke as a cable car was descending from Cermis near the Italian ski resort of Cavalese in the Dolomites, 40 km north-east of Trento.
The cabin fell some 200 metres (660 ft) down a mountainside, then skidded 300 feet (91 m) before coming to a halt in a grassy meadow. In the fall, the three-ton overhead carriage assembly fell on top of the car, crushing it. Forty-three people died, including 15 children between the ages of 7 and 15 and the 18-year-old cable car attendant. Initial reports stated 42 dead with one missing; however, the last body, that of Fabio Rustia, was found later. The only survivor was a 14-year-old Milanese girl, Alessandra Piovesana, who was on a school trip and was with two friends when the accident happened. Later she worked as a journalist for the science magazine Airone, before her death from illness in 2009.
The cable car had a capacity of 40 people or 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg). At the time of the accident it had 44 occupants – justified by the operator, as many of them were children. Most of the victims were West Germans from Hamburg. Among those aboard were 21 Germans, 11 Italians, 7 Austrians and one French woman.
The inquest found that two steel cables crossed and one severed the other. The automatic safety system which could have prevented the disaster was switched off. Four lift officials were jailed for their part in the disaster.
Famous quotes containing the words cable, car and/or disaster:
“To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars.”
—Douglass Cross (b. 1920)
“There are two modes of transport in Los Angeles: car and ambulance. Visitors who wish to remain inconspicuous are advised to choose the latter”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)
“The opposition is indispensable. A good statesman, like any other sensible human being, always learns more from his opponents than from his fervent supporters. For his supporters will push him to disaster unless his opponents show him where the dangers are. So if he is wise he will often pray to be delivered from his friends, because they will ruin him. But though it hurts, he ought also to pray never to be left without opponents; for they keep him on the path of reason and good sense.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)