3 arrested in Italy funicular crash; clamp deactivated brake

Police in northern Italy have made three arrests in a cable car disaster that killed 14 people

ROME -- Police arrested three people Wednesday in the cable car disaster that killed 14 people in northern Italy, saying workers placed a clamp on the emergency brake to deactivate it as a patchwork repair - one that prevented the brake from engaging when the lead cable snapped. The revelations, obtained during an overnight police interrogation of the suspects, turned the horror of Sunday’s disaster into outrage, given the tragedy appeared to have been an entirely preventable. Prosecutor Olimpia Bossi hypothesized that the operators of the sightseeing funicular, which had reopened after a wintertime COVID-19 closure, used the jerry-rigged clamp to avoid having to shut the attraction for the more extensive, “radical" repairs that were necessary. Bossi said it still wasn't clear why the lead cable broke or whether it was related to the brake problem. But she said that the intentional deactivation of the brake, done several times over recent weeks for a persistent problem, prevented the brake from doing its job when the cable snapped.