Authorities in Italy have arrested three people in connection to the cable car crash that killed 14 people. Only one person, five-year-old Eitan Biran, survived the crash. The crash killed his parents, younger brother, and great-grandparents. Biran suffered several broken bones and remains hospitalized.
Investigators said workers used a clamp to deactivate the emergency brake as they attempted to repair the cable line.
Prosecutor Olimpia Bossi said the workers didn't want to close the cable car, which had recently reopened after being shut down due to coronavirus restrictions.
"We arrested three people who it turns out were directly involved in a concrete fact: The emergency brake mechanism of the cabin that fell onto the Mottarone slope was manipulated," Bossi said, according to ABC News.
Lt. Col. Alberto Cicognani explained that the emergency brake would spontaneously engage, leaving the cable car stuck high above the mountain. To get around the issue, the workers installed a clamp to deactivate it while they attempted patchwork repairs to solve the issue.
"Because of a malfunction, the brake was continuing to engage even when it wasn't supposed to," Cicognani said. "To prevent the cabin from halting while transporting passengers, they chose to not remove the dispositive that blocked the emergency brake."
"In this way, the brake couldn't function, and this brought about the fact that when the cable broke, the cabin fell backward."
While authorities have not identified the three men who were arrested, Reuters reported that they were the owner, director, and manager of the company that runs the cable car. Bossi told reporters that they had "full knowledge" of the decision to run the cable car while the emergency brake was inoperable.
Authorities said they have not determined what caused the cable line to snap or if it was related to the issues with the emergency brake. They said that the accident could have been avoided because the brake would have prevented the car from crashing to the ground when the line broke.
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