At noon yesterday at noon, all the bells are ringing. Shops are lowering their shutters. People pray. Some cry. They commemorate the dead of the gondola crash on Pentecost Sunday. For 14 minutes. One minute for each victim. State mourning prevails in the northern Italian resort of Stresa.
And then there is the story of little Eitan (5). It breaks your heart. The little boy was the only one who survived the accident and is lying in the intensive care unit of the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin with severe injuries to his head, chest and stomach area and broken legs. His condition is still life threatening.
“It’s a drama within a drama,” says Giovanni La Valle, director of the hospital. The little Israeli lost his parents, his two-year-old brother and his great-grandparents in the tragic crash. He was found in the arms of his dead father. The man had apparently desperately pressed the son to protect him when the gondola raced downhill.
“We rise to paradise”
The world on Lake Maggiore was still in perfect order 20 minutes beforehand. The sun warmed like a summer day. The sky was crystal clear. After the second lockdown, the cable car was finally running again. Tourists queued at the base station in Stresa. They wanted to enjoy the local mountain, the panorama over the lake and the view of the Borromean Islands. In addition to the Israelis, members of three other families got into the gondola. They are Italians from Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Calabria. Only 15 passengers were allowed in. A gondola guide is not required. Corona distance rule.
The gondola started moving. A woman (40) sent her sister an enthusiastic message: “We are ascending to paradise.” Shortly before the end of the line, the tragedy took its terrible turn. An eyewitness told «La Stampa»: «I was just at the mountain station when I see a gondola shooting past me backwards. It seemed completely unchecked. Twice she swayed violently up and down. At the first mast she finally detached herself from the rope and fell straight down, “says Alex Bennet,” I can’t get rid of the pictures. At that moment I just hoped the gondola was empty. Because I didn’t hear any screams ».
Rescuer reports the accident: “Victims thrown meters from the gondola”(01:54)
Did a steel cable break?
The red and white gondola hit hard after 30 meters of free fall. The slope is steep. The cabin rolled, overturned, until two trees caught it. Ten people were thrown out. When the rescue and rescue teams approached, three of the accident victims were still alive. Two children and one adult. Three helicopters were in use. The woman died on the spot. Eitan and another boy († 6) were flown to Turin. Nine hours later, the six-year-old Italian’s heart stopped beating.
How did the accident happen? There is no more burning question these days on Lake Maggiore. The cable car was overhauled only five years ago for over four million euros. The pull ropes consist of three strong strands that are intertwined with one another. And they are serviced every November.
As the gondola races down the valley, the brake pads on the anchorage should have activated automatically in order to clamp the gondola to the suspension cable. But even this electronically controlled braking system fails. Was there a manual emergency brake on board? And if so, was it not served because there was no driver on board?
Hardly any answers to questions about the cause of the accident
National and international TV teams and reporters stood in front of the entrance to the Stresa congress center for over an hour yesterday. Any questions. The announced press conference begins with a long delay. The Italian minister of transport, the president of the region, the mayor and the head of civil defense are present. But the journalists are waiting in vain for answers. There is a brief statement from Minister Enrico Giovannini (65). You stand by the families of the victims and hope that the results of the investigation will be quick. Questions are not allowed.
In any case, the Verbania public prosecutor’s office is investigating culpable causing a disaster, multiple negligent homicide and bodily harm. Some companies, including the cable car operator and the maintenance company, are targeted, writes “La Stampa”.
«Tourists came to us again. Many of them are Swiss, ”says Marcella Severino (53) to Blick. Stresa’s mayor still speaks of a little luck in misfortune. Because of Corona, only 15 instead of the possible 40 passengers were allowed, “otherwise there might have been even more victims,” said Severino.