Margherita Lega and her family wanted to visit a small hamlet in the Italian alps. But an unimaginable tragedy struck, leaving two children without their mother
A mother-of-two has died after tragically plummeting 500ft after falling from a cable car in the Italian mountains.
Margherita Lega, 41, was loading luggage onto the machine – which was designed to carry only baggage and objects, not people – when her clothes were caught and the teleferica machine suddenly switched on. Ms Lega had been hiking with her husband and two young children, who watched on in horror at 11am this morning as she was carried away.
The mother-of-two clung onto the contraption as it carried her more than 50 yards over a cliff edge before she could no longer hold her weight, and had to let go. Her children are tragically believed to have witnessed their mother’s horrific death, and are now being looked after while her husband is taken to a local police station as an investigation into the incident gets underway.
A cabin on the mountain in the Calasca Castiglione area was reportedly the family’s intended destination, according to La Republicca. Silvia Tipaldi, the mayor of the area, said the woman’s tragic death had “shocked” her and offered her condolences to the family, adding: “We are waiting for the magistrate’s checks on the plant to have more information on what unfortunately turned out to be a tragedy.” Authorities currently believe the “tragedy was accidental” and that the paperwork for the cableway was “regularly filed with the Municipality”.
There are only a handful of private homes in the hamlet of Drocala – where the family had been trying to reach. The cableway, connecting Olino hamlet with the Drocala alpine pasture, travels a 1,300ft (400m) distance over a steep gully into which Ms Lega fell.
Over 100 emergency personnel rushed to the scene including firefighters, police and mountain rescue, locating Ms Lega’s body in the valley with the help of mountain rescue climbers and a helicopter.
Alpine Rescue recovered Ms Lega’s body using a winch hanging down from the helicopter and carrying her back up. The teleferica has now been closed off by prosecutors as they look to ensure all the necessary safety measures had been put in place by staff – which include one worker at the top and one at the bottom of the cable car.
The reason why the machine suddenly started and began pulling Ms Lega uphill is currently being investigated. Ms Lega is believed to have been from Fiavè, a small town in the northeastern Trento region of Italy – a four-hour drive from where the horrific incident took place.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
