Bodies of Italy cable car crash victims to be flown to Israel for burial
The bodies of the five members of the Biran family killed in a cable car crash in northern Italy will be flown to Israel on Wednesday for burial, Ambassador to Italy Dror Eydar said Tuesday.
The lone survivor of the disaster that killed 14 people, 5-year-old Eitan Biran, remains hospitalized in Turin, Italy, with multiple broken bones.
His parents, younger brother, and two great-grandparents were killed.
“Eitan’s flight back to Israel is still a long way off, but we plan to send the coffins tomorrow,” Eydar, who visited the boy in the hospital where he is sedated and on ventilation, told Channel 12.
Pope Francis offered prayers for “little Eitan” and said he was “following his case with trepidation.”
רופאיו של איתן בירן בן ה-5, הניצול היחיד מאסון הרכבל באיטליה, מעריכים כי לא נגרם לו נזק מוחי. נאחל לו רפואה שלמהhttps://t.co/NNqZIJ39x7 pic.twitter.com/sIiqEBK1pC
— ידיעות אחרונות (@YediotAhronot) May 24, 2021
Officials at Turin’s Regina Margherita children’s hospital have said they plan to begin waking Eitan up from sedation Tuesday after he underwent surgery and an MRI, which showed no brain damage or injury to his spinal cord. An aunt and other family members have been with him at the hospital.
Eitan, who resided in Italy with his family, was apparently saved by the embrace of his father, who died when the cabin crashed to the ground, a hospital spokesperson said Monday.
“In order to be able to survive the terrible impact, it is likely that the father, who was of robust build, wrapped his son in a hug,” the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin said, according to the Italian la Repubblica newspaper.
אסון הרכבל באיטליה | דיווח בעיתון מקומי: מצבו של איתן בירן בן ה-5 יציב אך הוא מורדם ומונשם. הרופאים מסרו – 48 השעות הקרובות יהיו מכריעות עבורו. אביו של איתן, עמית, גונן עליו בעת ההתרסקות ובכך הציל את חייו@itamargalit pic.twitter.com/qpXbUFTYyo
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) May 24, 2021
Prosecutors have said they are investigating why the lead cable of the Stresa funicular snapped Sunday while it was bringing sightseers up to the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore in Italy’s northern Piedmont region.
They have said the emergency brake on the supporting cable didn’t engage, which sent the cabin reeling back down the line until it pulled off, crashed to the ground and rolled over down the mountainside until it came to rest against some trees.
Pope Francis also sent a telegram to the local bishop offering his condolences to the families of the dead who, he said were “tragically lost while immersed in the marvels of creation.”