Twenty people of various nationalities plunged to their death at a ski resort in the Dolomites mountains near Trento in northern Italy yesterday.
The accident was said to have followed an incident in which a US military aircraft clipped a cable-car line as it flew over the resort near Cavalese in northern Italy.
The jet was reported to have continued on its journey and later landed safely at a US airbase at Aviano. The commander of the airbase last night suspended all low-altitude flights by US military aircraft until the causes of the accident are determined.
Witnesses and local officials complained that US surveillance jets regularly fly too low over the resort and even on occasion swoop under the cable-car lines.
20 die in Italian ski resort as US jet severs cable-car line: page 13