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Cable car from Stresa to Mottarone after the accident
Photo: MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP
According to the Verbania public prosecutor's office, the three men arrested after the cable car accident in northern Italy face "extremely high" penalties if they are found to be guilty.
There is also a risk of fleeing, according to the arrest warrant for the three, quoted from the Italian media.
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 Wednesday night.
The public prosecutor's office is investigating the case because of multiple negligent homicide.
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 an unknown reason.
In that case, an emergency brake should have applied, which did not happen.
The gondola sped down at high speed, overturned, and finally smashed.
It is now suspected 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.
Infrastructure Minister speaks in Parliament
According to the Ansa news agency, Carabinieri commander Luca Geminale said 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 on Thursday.
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.
wit / dpa