The aircraft involved in today's accident, a sophisticated electronic surveillance jet known as an EA-6B ''Prowler,'' ordinarily used to patrol the skies over Bosnia to the east, returned to the Aviano base. The plane was only slightly damaged, the authorities said.

Italian television reported that 14 of the 20 dead had been identified. They included Italian, German, Belgian and Polish vacationers.

Soldiers of the Italian Army who carried the first bodies from the site of the crash described a scene of horror inside the crushed and overturned cable car. Bodies were twisted, they said, and the faces of the dead were described as contorted in terror.

Several rescuers, who worked with the help of a hydraulic crane, broke down during the work. A local Catholic priest blessed the bodies as they were taken away.

The crash occurred at about 3:30 P.M. local time, when residents of Cavalese said they heard a enormous boom at about the time the plane was thought to have hit the cable. Some people said the force of the boom was strong enough to shake light vehicles, much like a sonic boom.

With cranes and helicopters, rescue teams worked to remove bodies from the wreckage of the cable car. By late this evening, scraps of yellow steel lay scattered over a snowy meadow amidst fir and larch trees.

Pools of blood could be seen in the light of floodlights that illuminated the site. A pile of twisted and broken skis, ski poles, boots goggles and gloves, some smeared with blood, had been collected by rescuers.