BREAKING: Italian cable car accident kills 13, injures 2 children

Thirteen people died and two children were seriously injured on Sunday when a cable car linking Italy's Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain in the Alps plunged 20 metres to the ground, local officials and rescuers said.

The Stresa-Mottarone cable car takes tourists and locals from the town on Lake Maggiore, almost 1,400 metres above sea level to the top of the Mottarone mountain in 20 minutes.

The accident happened as the cable car was travelling up the mountain, with the cabin dropping some 20 metres and rolling several times down the steep slopes before it was stopped by trees, said Stresa Mayor Marcella Severino.

Officials said two children had been taken by helicopter to a pediatric hospital in the nearby city of Turin. Another injured person, an adult, had also been taken to hospital by helicopter.

The Stresa-Mottarone lift had only recently reopened following the gradual lifting of coronavirus restrictions.