Four people have died and one is seriously injured after a cable car crashed to the ground near Naples in southern Italy on Thursday.

A cable broke on the link taking tourists from the town of Castellammare di Stabia, on the Gulf of Naples, to Monte Faito, about three kilometres(1.8 miles) away.

“Four lifeless bodies were found, while a fifth injured person was rescued and taken to hospital,” the fire department said in a Telegram post, adding that this was a final toll.

Vincenzo De Luca, the head of the Campania region around Naples, told Rai that rescue operations were hampered by fog and high winds.

More than 50 firefighters took part in rescue efforts.

One cabin carrying 16 passengers was close to Castellammare and they were put down on firm ground. A second cabin was above a precipice on Mount Faito and fog delayed the rescue effort, reports said.

The cable car had just reopened for the summer season and prosecutors said they had launched an investigation into the accident.

“The cable car reopened 10 days ago with all the required safety conditions,” said Umberto de Gregorio, the head of the cable car company. “What happened today is an unimaginable, unforeseeable tragedy.”

The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni expressed “sincere condolences” to the families of the victims, her office said.

The cable car has been operating since 1952 and a similar accident in 1960 also left four dead.

In 2021 14 people died when a cable car linking Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain plunged to the ground in northern Italy. In 1998, a US fighter jet flying at a low level on a training flight cut a steel cable, killing 20 people in a cable car in the Dolomites.