Eight people died and two were seriously injured Sunday after a cable car plunged to the ground on the side of a mountain in northern Italy, emergency services said.

The accident occurred by  the resort town of Stresa, which lies on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region.
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“The provisional toll is eight dead and two injured” who were rushed to a pediatric hospital in the city of Turin, emergency services spokesman Walter Milan told AFP.

Images from the fire service show debris from the cabin in a wooded area where a steep slope makes access difficult.

The 20-minute cable car ride, popular with tourists, links Stresa with the 1,500-metre (4,900-foot) summit of the Mottarone mountain, which offers spectacular views of the Alps.
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The accident, which occurred around 300 metres from the summit, may have been caused by a broken cable at the top of the system, the Ansa news agency said.

It said 11 people were in the cabin that fell.
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