Officials acknowledge: The cable car’s emergency brakes were intentionally disconnected

The cable car between Stresa and Mutaron in northern Italy was having technical problems and had to be closed and repaired. But the management of the company running the track did not want to lose visitors and money. Therefore, the safety was deliberately circumvented.

– Initial investigation leader Olympia Bossi says at a press conference that it is about an active option to stop the emergency brakes.

At 4 pm yesterday, a decision was made to arrest the three suspects who, after lengthy interrogation, admitted that they had closed the emergency brakes in the cable car. The suspects include the head of the plant, Luigini Nyerini, and his closest associates.

The cable car up the mountain with the beautiful view was opened, after being closed during the epidemic. The influx of tourists. But the track had technical problems and the emergency brakes often hit, resulting in a series of stops. Reformers were called in, but they failed to solve the problem. Then the management chose to close the emergency brake with some kind of clamp. Something that was discovered directly by the investigators on the site.

– It wasn’t the first time she did this last Sunday. And forgetfulness was not. The emergency brakes were constantly being turned off so that technical issues could be circumvented and lead the way anyway, explains chief of preliminary investigation Bossi.

One survivor is five years old

It remains unclear why the cable was broken. But the emergency brakes would have prevented what happened next: The vehicle was speeding back at a hundred kilometers per hour, straight into a pole and then crashing into the ground.

Among the dead were a newly engaged couple, an entire family and two children, aged between two and nine. Five-year-old Eitan is the only survivor, and it is believed that his father’s body was protecting him and he was seriously injured in a hospital in Turin.

You don’t want to lose money

The suspects must have admitted that they do not want to lose money by keeping lockdowns for repairs indefinitely when they can finally open and the summer season begins.

Among the dead was 29-year-old Alessandro Merlo.

Anger is now growing in many of the relatives, such as Merlot’s mother, Rosalba. She says on Italian TV:

– My son’s body was so convinced that I wasn’t even allowed to see him and say goodbye. If he and the others die because they don’t want to lose tourists, the perpetrators will have to pay for it.