An Italian judge has ruled that three men arrested for a cable car accident in northern Italy that killed 14 people can leave prison, one of whom is placed under house arrest.
In the crash a week ago, a gondola of the cable that connects the resort of Stresa on Lake Maggiore to a nearby mountain fell to the ground, killing everyone on board except a five-year-old Israeli boy who is in hospital.
The Public Prosecutor of the City of Verbania has started a preliminary investigation into suspicion of negligent homicide and negligence. The police arrested the three men on Wednesday.
The judge ruled that there was no reason to keep them in prison because they couldn’t run away and, according to Italian media, there was no risk of evidence being tampered with.
The public prosecutor’s office accuses the three men – the owner of the cable car company and two employees – with technical problems.
They said in a judicial file that the three purposely attached fork-shaped clamps to the emergency brakes to prevent them from being continuously activated.
“I am aware of the mistake I made in tightening the brackets,” Gabriele Tadini told prosecutors, according to the official transcript of his interview, quoted by the Sunday newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Tadini was responsible for starting the elevator, which he did a few hours before the crash on May 23.
Tadini was placed under house arrest. His lawyer Marcello Perillo said he did not request his client’s release after he was admitted.
“There is no denying that it is about the closures because it will have consequences,” said Perillo, adding that the extent to which the other two men were informed of Tadini’s actions remained to be determined.
“There is currently no evidence that they were responsible. They are people who should have known, but it’s not clear if they did, ”he said.
Enrico Perocchio, the company’s engineer in charge of security checks on the cable car, said after leaving Verbania prison on Saturday night he had no idea the brakes were locked.
“I have 21 years of experience with elevators that use ropes. I know you never, ever do that, ”Perocchio said, according to the La Repubblica website.
Perocchio and Luigi Nerini, the owners of the company that operates the elevator, have been released pending the investigation.
When ordering her release, Judge Donatella Banci Buonamici wrote that there was “absolutely no evidence” against Nerini and Perocchio and that the prosecutors’ request to keep them in prison was based on “mere guesswork”.
Nerini’s attorney, Pasquale Pantano, told reporters Saturday night that his release was welcome news, but it was important to find out now who was responsible for the disaster.
