After the tragic cable car accident in Italy, the only survivor apparently woke up.
The police are now hoping for new details after a find.
The news ticker.
14 people were killed in a cable car crash on Sunday at Lake Maggiore in Italy *.
There were several arrests.
The railway's emergency brake is said to have been manipulated to ensure continued operation.
Now the only survivor - a five-year-old boy - appears to have woken up.
Turin - The cable car accident in Italy near Lake Maggiore continues to concern the investigators.
Three men were arrested.
They are said to have manipulated the emergency brake in order to ensure the continued operation of the railway.
In addition, it is still completely open why the carrying rope could break.
Cable car accident in Italy: Surviving boy woke up
In the meantime, the only survivor of the tragedy appears to have woken up. The five-year-old boy has been in hospital in Turin since the accident, as reported by the Italian newspaper
La Stampa
. He has now woken up in the intensive care unit and spoken to his aunt. The newspaper refers to information provided by the city of Turin. The boy suffered a chest and abdominal trauma in the fall and broke several extremities. However, he should be able to leave the intensive care unit in the next few days and continue to be treated in another ward.
According to the Verbania public prosecutor's office, the three men arrested after the cable car accident in northern Italy face “very high” penalties if they are found to be guilty.
There is also a risk of fleeing, according to the arrest warrant for the three, from which the Italian media quoted on Thursday.
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.
Cable car accident in Italy: police find data recorder of the railway - "black box" should bring new details
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.
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.
The Carabinieri commander Luca Geminale said on Thursday, according to the Ansa news agency, 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 applies.
The director of such a facility is responsible for their safety, he said.
(dpa / rjs) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.