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MINISTER

Italy stands firm in support of Isis coalition

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Wednesday reinforced Italy's involvement in the US-led fight against the extremist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis), as a French photographer was beheaded in Algeria.

Published: 25 September 2014 08:28 CEST
Italy stands firm in support of Isis coalition
French photographer and mountaineer was beheaded by Islamic militants. Photo: Jean Christophe Magnetet/AFP

Renzi, who is in the US this week, said that Italy's involvement in the international coalition, which includes France, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan, was in line with United Nations principles and had the support of parliament.

He was speaking at the UN's headquarters in New York as part of a visit this week to the US.

Italy's Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said last week that the country will send arms and aid to Iraq to fight the militant group but will not take part in air strikes.

A video of the beheading of Hervé Gourdel, 55, a photographer and mountain guide, was posted online on Wednesday, alongside a message from Jund al-Khilafa, a group linked to Isis, saying his killing was in revenge for French involvement in the the "aggresssion against the caliphate." Gourdel was reportedly kidnapped on Sunday after the group tracked his movements on his Facebook page.

The military campaign on Wednesday targetted Isis positions in eastern Syria. A 19-year-old British jihadi is believed to be among those killed by the strikes in the last couple of days.

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ACCIDENT

German tourists among 13 dead in Italy cable car accident

Thirteen people, including German tourists, have been killed after a cable car disconnected and fell near the summit of the Mottarone mountain near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.

Published: 23 May 2021 14:15 CEST
Updated: 23 May 2021 16:46 CEST
German tourists among 13 dead in Italy cable car accident
The local emergency services published this photograph of the wreckage. Photo: Vigili del Fuoco

The accident was announced by Italy’s national fire and rescue service, Vigili del Fuoco, at 13.50 on Sunday, with the agency saying over Twitter that a helicopter from the nearby town of Varese was on the scene. 

Italy’s National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps confirmed that there were 13 victims and two seriously injured people.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that German tourists were among the 13 victims.

According to their report, there were 15 passengers inside the car — which can hold 35 people — at the time a cable snapped, sending it tumbling into the forest below. Two seriously injured children, aged nine and five, were airlifted to hospital in Turin. 

The cable car takes tourists and locals from Stresa, a resort town on Lake Maggiore up to a panoramic peak on the Mottarone mountain, reaching some 1,500m above sea level. 

According to the newspaper, the car had been on its way from the lake to the mountain when the accident happened, with rescue operations complicated by the remote forest location where the car landed. 

The cable car had reopened on April 24th after the end of the second lockdown, and had undergone extensive renovations and refurbishments in 2016, which involved the cable undergoing magnetic particle inspection (MPI) to search for any defects. 

Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Twitter that he expressed his “condolences to the families of the victims, with special thoughts for the seriously injured children and their families”.

Infrastructure Minister Enrico Giovannini told Italy’s Tg1 a commission of inquiry would be established, according to Corriere della Sera: “Our thoughts go out to those involved. The Ministry has initiated procedures to set up a commission and initiate checks on the controls carried out on the infrastructure.”

“Tomorrow morning I will be in Stresa on Lake Maggiore to meet the prefect and other authorities to decide what to do,” he said.

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