A cable car gondola crashed in northern Italy on Sunday – the accident may have been caused by manipulation. If guilty, the three suspects face the “very high” penalties.
Rome / Salzburg (dpa) – The three men arrested after the cable car accident in northern Italy face “very high” penalties, according to the Verbania public prosecutor’s office, if they can be proven guilty.
There is also a risk of fleeing, according to the arrest warrant for the three, from which the Italian media quoted today. A “thoughtless behavior” led to the death of 14 people and serious injuries to a five-year-old, it said. The head of the cable car company and two other senior employees were arrested on the night of yesterday.
The cable car had an accident on Whitsunday on the way from Stresa on Lake Maggiore up to Monte Mottarone. According to the current state of investigation, shortly before the arrival at the mountain station at a good 1,300 meters above sea level, the pulling rope broke for a previously unknown cause. In that case, an emergency brake should have applied, which did not happen. The gondola sped down at high speed, overturned, and finally smashed.
Suspected manipulation
There is now a suspicion that the emergency brake was overridden by a device known as a “forchetta” (fork) because there had previously been irregularities in the course of the track. According to the media, one motive for the manipulation could have been that the operators wanted to keep the cable car running at all costs after the long compulsory Corona break.
According to the Ansa news agency, Carabinieri commander Luca Geminale said today that the cable car’s data recorder, the so-called “black box”, had been secured. It is a device that records all technical aspects such as speed, movement and swaying of the gondola.
In the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Infrastructure Minister Enrico Giovannini commented on the accident today. He emphasized, among other things, that in the event of a loss of pressure or a rupture of the pull cable on Italian cableways, an emergency brake automatically engages. The director of such a facility is responsible for their safety, he said.
Experts: Can’t happen in Austria
Experts are convinced that a cable car accident like the one in Italy in Austria is inconceivable. Christian Felder, chairman of the technical committee at the professional association of cableways, ruled out the rupture of a pull rope without external influence today on the sidelines of a press conference.
Even an intentional shutdown of a security system could not happen in Austria, he said. The country not only has one of the strictest cable car laws in the world with regular controls, but also has well-trained staff.
“Safety is the top priority. Only then does profitability come into play. ”That starts with the daily checks before, during and after operation and continues up to the main annual overhauls, says Felber. To this end, precise material controls take place every few years. All checks are documented and checked by the authorities. The 253 cable car companies in Austria operate more than 1100 cable car locations.
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