By AFP Eight people died and two were seriously injured Sunday after a cable car plunged to the ground on the side of a mountain in northern Italy, emergency services said.

The accident occurred by the resort town of Stresa, which lies on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region. “The provisional toll is eight dead and two injured” who were rushed to a pediatric hospital in the city of Turin, emergency services spokesman Walter Milan told AFP.

Images from the fire service show debris from the cabin in a wooded area where a steep slope makes access difficult.

The 20-minute cable car ride, popular with tourists, links Stresa with the 1,500-metre (4,900-foot) summit of the Mottarone mountain, which offers spectacular views of the Alps.

The accident, which occurred around 300 metres from the summit, may have been caused by a broken cable at the top of the system, the Ansa news agency said.

It said 11 people were in the cabin that fell.