DThe cable car manufacturer Leitner from Vipiteno in South Tyrol paid a “significant amount of money” to the relatives of the 14 people who died in the disaster before the main proceedings were opened due to the cable car accident on Lake Maggiore on May 23, 2021. The accident was presumably caused by the cable car operator “Ferrovie del Mottarone” manipulating the emergency brake of the cable car, so that the cabin carrying 15 people raced downhill unbraked and finally crashed after the pull rope broke shortly before the mountain station on Monte Mottarone. The only survivor of the disaster was Eitan B., a six-year-old boy who lost his parents, his younger brother and his great-grandmother in the crash.
The international company from Vipiteno did not disclose the amount involved because it had agreed with the relatives of the victims not to communicate “neither the content nor the amount” of the agreement. According to Italian media reports, Leitner transferred around 15 million euros to around 90 relatives of the accident victims.
Only the agreement on the presumably even larger individual sum for Eitan B., who is now eight years old, is still pending, as medical reports and the necessary authorizations from the guardianship court are still pending. “However, Leitner is confident that an agreement can be found quickly there too,” the company said in a statement.
Damage to image should be averted
Leitner made the payments due to the inadequate insurance coverage of the cable car system operating company, which amounted to around 8.5 million euros. The company said the compensation was a “concrete gesture of solidarity and solidarity” with those “hit so hard by the tragic event that destroyed innocent lives and wiped out entire families.”
The agreement involves the assignment of all claims of the injured parties to Leitner so that the company can, in turn, obtain reimbursement of the amounts from the people actually responsible for the event.
Based on the results of the investigation so far, it is assumed that the people who are clearly responsible for what happened do not belong to the Leitner company, the Vipiteno company is convinced. Leitner will take action against those responsible for the tragedy in all instances in order to prevent damage to their image.
The company made the compensation payment on its own initiative and from its own resources, without waiting for the often years-long bureaucratic processes that are usually associated with claims liquidations by insurance companies.
In the proceedings before the court in Verbania in the northwestern Italian region of Piedmont, a total of six people are accused of negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm, including two Leitner employees and Leitner CEO Anton Seeber. The next hearing in Verbania is set for February 27th.
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