The accident of the Faito cable car returned to memory the most recent cable car unfortunate in Italy: theaccident of the Stresa-Alpine-Mottarone cable caron the Piedmontese bank of Lake Maggiore, where the May 23, 2021 they lost their lives 14 people And the only survivor was the little Etian Brian, at the time of 5 years. The dynamics of the accident was similar to that which took place at the Faito cable car: the breakdown of a rope between the between one of the cabins, which could not brake and rushed to the ground after the collision with one of the pylons of the system.
The accident of May 23, 2021 in Mottarone: the news
It is 12:15 of May 23, 2021this is the Sunday of Pentecost and there is a beautiful sun a Stresaelegant town overlooking the waters of Lake Maggiore. An ideal day to take the cable car that connects the lake bank with a plateau just below the top of Mottonea mountain of the Alps Pennine, and enjoy a nice trip to nature.
Cabin number 3 almost arrived at the summit station, however, when The trained rope is broken And the cabin slips abruptly along the supporting rope. At this point the system of Emergency brakes To maintain the car firmly to the supporting rope, but this does not happen: the cabin goes down at high speed along the rope, with violent jumps 15 passengers on board.
After a fatal collision with one of the concrete pylons of the system, the cabin releases from the supporting rope and falls into the void. Falls beyond 20 meters In the middle of the woods: the only survivor is a 9 -year -old boy, the Israeli Etian Brianunfortunately, orphaned. Another 5 year old boy, Mattia Zorloniis transported to Queen Margherita of Turin, where unfortunately the doctors cannot save him. The other 13 passengers – 5 Israelis, one Iranian and 8 Italians, including Mattia’s parents – instead died instantly.
The causes of the accident and the judicial affair
The investigations highlighted that the structural failure of the led rope was due to the deterioration of the rope itself due to wear. A technical report drawn up by experts from the Court of Verbania has estimated that the 68% of the rope had suffered fatigue and corrosion. The Directorate General for Railway and Maritime Investigations issued a relationship that the non -safe conditions of the rope were due to strong deficiencies in the maintenance of the system.
Another important aspect of the judicial affair is the fact that the emergency braking system would not have come into operation because intentionally disabled Through the “forks” to prevent the cabins from stopping due to a technical malfunction already known to the managers of the cable car: it seems that the braking system did not work well by blocking the cable car. The Leitner company, which manages the system, has been accused of not having carried out the necessary checks and of not having correctly managed the maintenance operations, and has made an agreement for a millionaire compensation to the relatives of the victims.
Leitner, together with Ferrovie del Mottarone, did not receive the notice of closure of the investigations, while at the moment the head of the plant are investigated Gabriele Tadinithe administrator of the plant Luigi Nerini and the operating director Enrico Perocchiobeyond Martin Leitner And Peter Rabanser.
