Helicopter rescue of 200 skiers trapped in cable cars

At least 200 skiers were lowered down to safety on Friday in the Italian Dolomites after winds of up to 130 km/hour hit the area.

Rescue teams were lowered down from helicopters onto some 20 cable car cabins which had been brought to a halt at about 30 metres above ground. No injuries were reported.

The news comes as stormy weather wreaked havoc across northern Italy claiming at least three lives.

Power cuts

According to news agency Ansa, a 41-year-old man died near the Tuscan city of Lucca when his Ford Focus was hit by a rock that fell off an embankment.

In the Marche city of Urbino, a woman was crushed to death by a tree uprooted by strong winds. A 76-year-old man also died after strong winds blew him into the path of a van while he was riding a bicycle in Buscate, near Milan.

Electricity was cut off in some 13,000 homes in the central Umbria region as heavy rains and 80km/h winds swept through the central land-locked region, uprooting trees and blowing roofs off buildings, the civil protection agency said.