Italian police arrested three men Wednesday in connection with a cable car crash that killed 14 people over the weekend.
According to police, the emergency brake system had been deactivated to avoid service disruptions that had cropped up after the aerial tramway reopened this part April.
An official in Verbania told Reuters those arrested were the manager of Ferrovie Mottarone, the company that manages the cable way, its director, and the manager of the cable way.
Officials say the emergency brakes would have prevented the cable car from breaking loose and plummeting to the ground.
The names of those arrested have not been released.
The lone survivor is a 5-year-old Israeli boy who was placed in intensive car after the crash due to his injuries, The Guardian reports. According to doctors, the child awoke from sedation on Wednesday, and his prognosis has not been announced.
The boy’s parents, sibling and great-grandparents were all killed in the crash.
The fatal wreck occurred near Lake Maggiore in the Piedmont region on Sunday.
BREAKING: Police in northern Italy have made three arrests in the cable car disaster that killed 14 people after an investigation showed a clamp, placed on the brake as a patchwork repair effort, prevented the brake from engaging. https://t.co/CVPGP9DxZG
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) May 26, 2021
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