It was only two months ago. On Pentecost Sunday, the cable of gondola 3 breaks shortly before the mountain station of the Stresa-Alpino-Mottarone cable car. The cabin snaps back, races down the valley, is catapulted by the support cable and falls into the depths. 14 people die. The only survivor is a five-year-old who loses his family in an accident (Blick reported).
The grief is still great. The investigation is ongoing. Even the destroyed gondola is still stuck between the trees on the slope. And yet Stresa dares to look into the future. The cable car operation from the lake to the local mountain, which has been idle since the tragedy, is to be resumed soon. The mayor of Stresa (I), Marcella Severino (53) and her colleague from Baveno (I), Alessandro Monti (36), have three project ideas on the table.
Large cable car project aims to connect Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta
The first project envisages a more modern system. It would stick with a cable car from the base station on the lakeshore up to the Mottarone. The investment costs would be around 30 million euros. In the second solution, a gondola would take passengers to the Alpino station. From there a mountain railway would lead to Mottarone. The project costs 80 million euros.
Project three would be a risk. Not only would the cable car from Stresa to Mottarone be replaced, but the line would be extended to Omegna (I). Lake Maggiore and Lake Orta would be connected with this large system. Of course, that would be expensive. The mayors want to give details and costs at a press conference on Friday, writes La Stampa.
The public prosecutor’s office wants to drag twelve suspects to the dock
Who will manage the new facility has yet to be determined. It seems unlikely that the director of the unfortunate cable car will remain in office. The preservation of evidence in Verbania begins on Thursday. In the presence of the examining magistrate, the public prosecutor’s office will name twelve suspects whom they will indict, among other things, of culpably caused catastrophe, multiple negligent homicide and bodily harm. The main suspects include those responsible from “Ferrovie del Mottarone Srl” and senior employees of the South Tyrolean company Leitner, with which the cable car company has a maintenance contract.