Cableway Mottarone, Tadini: “Evidence on the rope and brakes is needed”

A probative accident on the rope, on the braking system and on the control unit of the same to try to understand the causes of the tragedy. To ask the investigating judge of Verbania Donatella Banci Buonamici is Gabriele Tadini, the head of the service of the Mottarone cable car under house arrest for the tragedy in which 14 people lost their lives, through his lawyer, the lawyer Marcello Perillo. Read also Since the accident, which took place in a wooded area with free access not only to rescuers, “11 days have passed”. “People not directly involved with the investigations also came into direct contact with the carcass of the cable car and with the wreckage, as the case had a clear media repercussion and being a place outdoors and subjected to atmospheric agents”, reads the request. in possession of the Adnkronos. The defender requests, in particular, the expert opinion on the rope, on the braking system and on the control unit of the same system. The request for an evidentiary incident arises “in order to avoid any compromise in the formation of evidence” and it is possible, in terms of the law, because the assessment, if prepared for trial, could lead to a suspension of more than 60 days. The proof to be taken with the evidentiary incident is the appraisal of the rope “in particular the type and causes of the failure of the hauling rope, primary cause of the fall of the cableway”, as well as an “appraisal of the braking system and the control unit of the same , as well as on the causes of the failure to operate it “. Elements, we read in the request for three pages, “decisive for reaching the trial decision as they will serve to define the casual determinism of the event”. According to the lawyer Perillo, the perishability of the elements and the place in which the cabin is located impose to act quickly, without waiting for the eventual trial, as the “modifications that could intervene on the evidence to be taken would determine the material impossibility of perform the act itself or an alteration could ensue such that the result of the operations may be considered prejudiced “. On the request, the investigating magistrate will decide in a short time and after the considerations of the prosecutor. Hypothesis supported by the words of Tadini’s technical consultant, the engineer Andrea Gruttadauria, who claims that “this degradation, associated with corrosive phenomena, implies chemical dissolution of such surfaces, formation of corrosion products with consequent modification of the morphology of the fracture surfaces and therefore loss of details useful for understanding the failure. This can therefore make it difficult to determine the real causes of the failure of the rope “.