Accident at the Macugnaga cable car, 100 people stranded at the Moro Pass brought back to the valley
A cab failed to stop at the planned point, hitting the barrier of the arrival station
The evacuation operation for the hundred or so people who were stranded in the area of the Passo del Moro di Macugnaga, at an altitude of 2,800 metres, ended in the early afternoon after the cableway was stopped following an accident in which three passengers and a manoeuvre operator were injured. All were brought back down to the valley.
The accident occurred at around 11.25 a.m. when a cabin failed to stop at the intended point and hit the barrier of the arrival station, causing the minor injury of three passengers who have already been evacuated, according to rescue workers. The ski slopes were closed and the ski lift was stopped. The fire brigade is working on site. The ski lift, which was built in 1962, underwent a general overhaul at the beginning of 2023 with the replacement of motors, pulleys and cabins. The work cost two million euro, of which 1.8 million was financed by the Piedmont Region and 200,000 euro by the Macugnaga municipality.
"We had a technical incident. We are making assessments, from the first information the lift did not decelerate correctly on entering the station and hit the station barrier". This is what Filippo Besozzi, administrator of Macugnaga Trasporti e Servizi, the company that manages the ski lift to Monte Moro, explained to Ansa about this morning's accident. 'Fortunately,' he adds, 'there are no serious injuries, nobody's life is in danger. From what I know, there are six people involved from a medical point of view. We had a few people in the cabin, at this moment I can't say exactly how many, and the one with the most serious injuries is a 59-year-old man with an arm injury. Others had minor grazes".
On the causes of the accident, Besozzi explains that the plant 'braked incorrectly and the emergency systems came into operation. The lift was not badly damaged, but we will have to carry out the necessary checks. The cable car is currently at a standstill and helicopter overflights are being organised to bring back to the village the 90 or so people who, although not involved in the accident, are stuck in the Moro Pass area'.
