Four people, including two British tourists, died, and one person was seriously injured after a cable car crashed near Naples, Italy, on Thursday, April 17.

The cabin was travelling from Castellammare di Stabia to Monte Faito when the accident occurred just days after reopening for the season, according to several reports.

Cable car crash, Monte Faito, Italy

According to The Guardian, a cable broke on the popular tourist route, sending the upward-bound cable car crashing to the ground. The Italian fire department stated via Telegram: ‘Four lifeless bodies were found, while a fifth injured person was rescued and taken to hospital,’ confirming this as the final toll.

The Daily Mail reported that ‘two British tourists are among the four who were killed… The third victim is said to be from Israel, while the fourth was the driver of the cable car and has been named as Carmine Parlato.’ A second Israeli tourist was seriously injured, having ‘suffered multiple bone fractures’ and was airlifted to Naples’ Ospedale del Mare hospital.

More than 50 firefighters participated in the emergency response, but strong winds and fog severely hampered the rescue effort. One cabin near Castellammare was lowered safely, while the other remained terrifyingly suspended above a ravine.

Footage published by Italian TV and shared online showed that 16 survivors were helped out of the other cabin and evacuated one by one by harness.

How did the cable car crash happen?

An investigation has been opened by the Torre Annunziata prosecutor’s office. Castellammare Mayor Luigi Vicinanza explained: “The traction cable broke. The emergency brake downstream worked, but evidently not the one on the cabin that was entering the station” (Cited by The Daily Mail).

The head of the cable car operator Ente Autonomo Volturno, Umberto De Gregorio, told The Guardian: “The cable car reopened 10 days ago with all the required safety conditions… What happened today is an unimaginable, unforeseeable tragedy.”

The Monte Faito cable car, operational since 1952, has a tragic history. An accident back in1960 also left four dead.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who was in Washington for talks with US President Donald Trump at the time, issued her condolences via a government press release, stating she wished to express “her closeness and deepest condolences to the families of the victims and the injured.”

Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi also responded, saying: “I express deep condolences, on behalf of the Metropolitan City of Naples and myself, for the victims of the tragedy that occurred this afternoon due to the collapse of the Faito cable car cabin.”

View all news from Italy.

Hazel Behan, 41, is accusing Portuguese authorities of mishandling her 2004 rape case involving Christian Brückner.

Brückner is the main suspect in the Madeleine McCann disappearance.

Who is Hazel Behan and why is she suing?

Behan says she was raped in 2004 in her Algarve apartment in Praia da Rocha. She has accused Christian Brückner, a convicted rapist and sex offender who later became the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

Brückner was tried and acquitted in a German court in 2023 in relation to Behan’s case and two other alleged rapes – one involving a teenager and another woman. He was also cleared of charges of child sexual abuse, as reported by RTÉ.

Hazel Behan’s claims of police failures and cover-ups

Behan’s legal team argues that Portuguese authorities failed to:

• Collect key forensic evidence, including blood-stained bed sheets and broken false nails
• Provide a translator so she could understand the proceedings or provide full testimony
• Avoid placing her under surveillance and allegedly pressuring her to return to Ireland to protect Portugal’s tourism image

Her lawyers claim these actions violated her rights to a private life and protection from inhuman or degrading treatment, as laid out in the European Convention on Human Rights.

“This isn’t just about justice for me,” Behan said in a statement issued via her solicitor Darragh Mackin. “It’s about standing up after being silenced and ignored for far too long.”

She added that she still carries “the pain of how [she] was treated every single day,” but hopes her action will ensure that Portugal and other countries treat rape victims, “both domestic and foreign,” with “the decency and respect they deserve.”

Who is Christian Brückner?

Brückner has a long criminal history involving rape and child sexual abuse. He lived in the Algarve from 1995 to 2007 and was in the Praia da Luz area on the night Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007.

German police officially named him the prime suspect in Madeleine’s case in 2020, but no charges have been filed to date. He is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence for the 2005 rape of an elderly American woman in Portugal.

Behan’s lawyer, Darragh Mackin, said the case represents “systematic and inexcusable failings” by the Portuguese authorities and called on the European Court of Human Rights to ensure that victims are “not ignored, dismissed or silenced by the systems that are meant to protect them.”

He added that the inaction of the Portuguese investigation “ultimately contributed to the acquittal of one of the most notorious perpetrators in modern history,” cited by 20 Minutos.

View all news from Portugal.

Finnish authorities are investigating a suspected attempt to smuggle sensitive nuclear power plant documents from Finland to Russia.

Customs officials seized nearly 30 boxes of archive material from a warehouse in the Kymenlaakso region, southeastern Finland, according to a statement issued on April 17.

Sensitive documents being smuggled to Russia?

Finnish Customs’ Economic Crime Investigation Unit confirmed that the materials, believed to be en route to Russia, include some that fall under EU sanctions imposed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“Based on the preliminary investigation, some of the data is classified as material subject to sanctions against Russia,” Finnish Customs said in its statement.

The documents were being stored in a facility near Finland’s southeastern border before the attempted transfer. Authorities have not publicly named the company involved but confirmed that the suspect is the managing director of a Finnish construction firm linked to the nuclear project.

Documents in investigation are not linked to operating Finnish nuclear plants

To ease public concerns, major Finnish energy companies have confirmed their facilities are not involved in the case. Fortum, which operates the Loviisa plant, plus TVO, which runs the Olkiluoto facility, have said they have no connection to the seized documents, as reported by The Kyiv Independent.

The case highlights Finland’s increasingly firm stance on Russia. Since joining NATO in 2023, Finland has taken aggressive measures to secure its 1,340-kilometre border with Russia. In December, the country fully closed its eastern border, accusing the Kremlin of sending asylum seekers as part of a hybrid operation.

The latest investigation stems from initial alerts by Finnish Customs officials and a tip-off from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

The probe is nearing completion, after which prosecutors will decide whether to file formal charges.

Authorities haven’t revealed the specific contents of the documents, but if found guilty, the suspect could face penalties under EU sanction laws.

View all news from Finland.