After the cable car accident on Monte Mottarone, the investigation into the cause is in full swing. The police arrested three people. A first suspicion seems to be confirmed.
Rome / Stresa (dpa) – More and more details are coming to light after the fatal cable car accident on Monte Mottarone. The Italian investigators’ uncomfortable suspicion is confirmed: the mechanism on the gondola that was supposed to trigger the emergency brake if the rope breaks was probably deactivated.
Three days after the accident with a total of 14 dead on the mountain west of Lake Maggiore, three people were arrested on Wednesday night. According to media reports, these were employees of the cable car operator Ferrovie del Mottarone. Including a manager. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating the case because of multiple negligent homicide.
In Italy, cable cars have been able to transport day trippers again since Saturday as part of the gradual relaxation of corona restrictions by the government. Investigators believe there was a disruption to the cable car, but operations should be prevented from slowing down.
According to the investigating public prosecutor Olimpia Bossi, a device was therefore used that held the jaws of the brake on the nacelle apart. These should actually block the suspension rope if the drive rope breaks. There were obviously irregularities in the system and an intervention would have been necessary, explained Bossi.
“They wanted to keep the cable car in operation even when the problem was revealed,” said a commander of the Carabinieri on television. So on Sunday people could still be transported to Monte Mottarone, which is known for its view of Lake Maggiore and the mountain panorama, in the best weather for excursions. The investigations into why the rope broke continued on Wednesday. An appraiser was expected on Thursday.
Many also looked to Turin on Wednesday, where the only survivor of the accident, a young Israeli boy, was still being treated in hospital. The five-year-old lost his parents and brother in the accident in the northern Italian region of Piedmont. On Wednesday morning, the doctors removed the breathing tube and the boy was briefly conscious, the director of the hospital told journalists. He also opened his eyes briefly.
However, the boy was still under the influence of the medication, the director explained. “His aunt and a psychologist were with him”. In the next few hours he should be able to wake up from the artificial coma.
The little one and another child were flown to the clinic by rescue helicopter after the gondola crash, seriously injured. The other child died that evening, bringing the number of people who died in the accident to a total of 14. The survivor was immediately operated on for his fractures.
The coffins with the bodies of his parents, his brother and his great-grandparents, all of whom were killed in the gondola crash, should be flown back to Israel on Wednesday, according to media reports. The coffins were prepared for return transport at Malpensa Airport in Milan. People lay in each other’s arms, as could be seen on TV pictures. A ceremony was also held on site.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210526-99-743251 / 8
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