Three people detained in Italy over suspected role in cable car crash: Reports

Italy's law enforcement agencies detained three persons after lengthy interrogations in the case launched after the cable car crash in the northern Piedmont region that resulted in 14 fatalities, a RaiNews24 broadcaster reported on Wednesday.

The detention of the suspects was authorized by the prosecutor's office in the city of Verbania, which is investigating the case. The three suspects are Luigi Nerini, the owner of the Ferrovie Mottarone company that operated the cableway connecting the village of Stresa and the peak of Mottarone, and two senior employees of this company. All of them are currently in prison.

According to Verbania's prosecutor, Olimpia Bossi, experts established following a technical research that the cable car crashed because the emergency brake system was blocked. This was done deliberately in order to avoid unexpected stops in the operation of the cableway, which was not in proper technical condition. This means, the system that could prevent fatalities in the event of a cable rupture was disabled.

"The employees were sure that a rupture of the carrier cable is impossible, they took a risk, which, unfortunately, led to fatalities," Bossi said.

Prosecutors continue the probe, making effort to establish if some other Ferrovie Mottarone employees could have prevented the accident "from a legal and economic point of view" but did not.

The incident occurred on a cableway on Sunday, that connects the village of Stresa and the mountain of Mottarone that overlooks Lake Maggiore. The cableway gave out close to the top of the mountain, when the cars were especially high in the air.

According to the cableway website, this line was closed during the coronavirus lockdown and reopened about a month ago. The cableway had 24-month maintenance work done several years ago. (ANI/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )

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