Italy has a history of this
The Cavalese cable car disaster of 1976 is the deadliest cable car crash in history.[1] On 9 March 1976, the steel supporting cable broke as a fully loaded cable car was descending from Mt. Cermis, near the Italian ski resort of Cavalese in the Dolomites, 40 km (25 mi) north-east of Trento.
The cabin fell some 200 metres (660 ft) down a mountainside, then skidded 100 metres (330 ft), before coming to a halt in a grassy meadow. In the fall, the three-ton overhead carriage assembly fell on top of the car, crushing it. Forty-three people died, including 15 children between the ages of 7 and 15 and the 18-year-old cable car attendant. Initial reports stated 42 dead
The cable car had a capacity of 40 people or 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg). At the time of the crash, in the late afternoon, the cable car had 44 occupants—justified by the operator as many of them being children. Most of the victims were West Germans from Hamburg. Among those aboard were 21 West Germans, 11 Italians, 7 Austrians, and one French woman.[2][6][7]
The inquest found that, during high winds, the stationary and the moving steel cables crossed, with one severing the other. The automatic stop safety system, which could have prevented the disaster, was switched off.[8] Four lift officials were jailed for their part in the disaster
There was one in 1998 but it was caused by an aircraft
The Cavalese cable car disaster occurred on February 3, 1998, near the Italian town of Cavalese, a ski resort in the Dolomites some 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Trento. Twenty people died when a United States Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler aircraft, flying too low and against regulations, cut a cable supporting a cable car of an aerial lift.[1][2]
The pilot, Captain Richard J. Ashby, and his navigator, Captain Joseph Schweitzer, were put on trial in the United States and found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide.[3][4] Later they were found guilty of obstruction of justice and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman for having destroyed a videotape recorded from the plane, and were dismissed from the Marine Corps.[5] The disaster, and the subsequent acquittal of the pilots, strained relations between the U.S. and Italy.