Faito Cable Car Tragedy: Technical Surveys Begin for Cabin Removal Over a Year After Fatal Disaster

Technical surveys aimed at removing the downstream cabin of the ill-fated Faito cable car began this morning at the central Circumvesuviana station in Castellammare di Stabia, marking a crucial step in the investigation into the disaster that killed four people on April 17, 2025.

The Faito aerial tramway (Funivia del Faito) is an aerial tramway that connects the city of Castellammare di Stabia with the mountain Monte Faito from which it takes its name.

The tramway suffered a serious accident resulting in the deaths of four tourists and left one individual critically injured, who had to be airlifted to hospital.[3] The incident happened near the summit of the mountain when one of the car’s support cables snapped. Another cable car on the same line was occupied at the time but its passengers were safely rescued. Rescue operations were hampered by poor weather conditions, including fog, wind, and rain, requiring occupants to be evacuated individually using harnesses.

Firefighters from the Naples Provincial Command are working alongside technical experts to determine the safest procedure for removing the cabin, which has remained at the base station since the tragedy. Officers from the Castellammare police station are also present, continuing their investigation into the catastrophic cable failure that shocked the Campania region.

The operation comes more than thirteen months after the hauling cable snapped during descent, causing the cabin to fall into a ravine and resulting in the deaths of four people and serious injuries to one other. Among the victims were a British woman, an Israeli woman, another tourist, and Carmine Parlato, the Italian cable car operator.

Mayor Luigi Vicinanza explained at the time that while the emergency brake on the downstream cabin worked properly, the brake on the cabin entering the mountain station apparently failed, leading to the fatal plunge.

Investigation Advances with Computer Simulations

As the physical recovery operations proceed, technical investigations into the accident continue to advance. Computer simulations of the tragedy were recently conducted at the University of Bari, considered one of the crucial steps before submitting the final technical report on the incident.

The damaged cables that caused the disaster have already been removed as part of the ongoing investigation. Earlier recovery efforts in November 2025 successfully retrieved the cabin trolley from the mountainside using a helicopter, a piece of equipment investigators consider key to the technical assessment.

A System with a Troubled History

The Monte Faito cable car, which averages around 110,000 visitors each year, had resumed operation for the 2025 spring season just three weeks before the accident after routine winter maintenance.

This was not the first tragedy to strike the Faito cable car. In August 1960, a descending cabin reached the valley station without stopping and fell onto the Circumvesuviana railway tracks below, killing four people and injuring 31 others. After that disaster, the system underwent various modernization interventions.

The current investigation has placed scrutiny on four officials and managers from Ente Autonomo Volturno (EAV), the regional company that manages the transport system, who have been registered as suspects in connection with possible maintenance failures or safety oversights

As authorities work methodically to piece together the exact sequence of events that led to last year's tragedy, the removal of the downstream cabin represents another step toward understanding what went wrong on that fateful April afternoon — and ensuring it never happens again.