Rescuers work by the wreckage of a cable car after it falls in north Italy's Piedmont region, May 23, 2021. At least 13 people were killed when a cable car fell in north Italy's Piedmont region. (Vigili del Fuoco/Handout via Xinhua)

ROME, May 23  -- Thirteen people were killed and two children have been hospitalized with multiple injuries after a cable car crashed in Italy's northern Piedmont region, the National Corps of Alpine and Speleological Rescue (Cnsas) said Sunday.

"Stresa-Mottarone cable car in Piedmont: the final death toll of the tragic incident is 13 fatalities and two seriously injured," Cnsas said on Twitter.

Earlier in the day, Cnsas tweeted that two children who had survived with injuries were airlifted to hospital in the city of Turin, the capital of Piedmont.

The cable car had been on a 20-minute panoramic trip from the village of Carciano di Stresa on the edge of Italy's Lake Maggiore, up to an altitude of 1,491 meters on Mt Mottarone -- a scenic area that is popular with tourists and holidaymakers.

It detached and crashed a few hundred meters short of the top, Cnsas told RAI News 24 public broadcaster.

There were some foreign visitors among the victims, Stresa Mayor Marcella Severino told Sky TG24 private broadcaster.

"It is with profound sadness that I learned of the tragic incident on the Stresa-Mottarone cable car. I express the sympathies of the entire government to the families of the victims, with special thoughts for the children who have been seriously injured, and their relatives," Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said in a tweet.

The two surviving children were hospitalized in serious condition with multiple fractures and head and chest injuries, Sky TG24 reported.