Eitan Biran: Italy investigates ‘kidnap’ of cable car crash survivor

Authorities in Italy have opened an investigation after his grandfather took a youngster, the sole survivor of a catastrophic cable car collision in May, to Israel.

The catastrophe killed 14 people, including Eitan Biran’s parents, younger brother, and two of his great grandparents.

Since being released from the hospital, the six-year-old has been staying with a paternal aunt in Italy.

Eitan’s maternal relatives in Israel, on the other hand, had applied for custody. Before the disaster, Eitan’s family had been living in Italy for some years, and his paternal aunt Aya Biran-Nirko was given custody in June. Shmulik Peleg, Eitan’s maternal grandpa, who had moved to Italy following the disaster and had visitation rights, took him out on Saturday.

He then used Eitan’s Israeli passport to fly him out of the country aboard a private jet. His entry into Israel has already been confirmed by Israeli diplomats.

Mr. Peleg took the youngster to Lugano, Switzerland, where they boarded a plane to Tel Aviv, according to Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. According to the newspaper, Mr. Peleg took the choice because he considered the youngster was in a terrible “mental and physical state.”

Gali Peleg, Eitan’s maternal aunt, petitioned for adoption in August, saying that the boy had been kidnapped in Italy.

According to Italian media, authorities have launched an abduction inquiry. The cause of the incident in northern Italy is still being investigated, but authorities think the car’s emergency brakes were deliberately disabled. There was nothing stopping the automobile from reversing at over 100km/h (62mph) on a support cable, past a support pylon, and then tumbling to the ground and rolling down the mountain when the main cable holding it snapped.

Thirteen individuals were killed on the scene, including a two-year-old toddler, and another kid died later in the hospital.

A number of employees from the cable car company are being investigated as a result of the incident.

Earlier this year, a technician acknowledged to using a fork-shaped clamp to deactivate the emergency brake, which had been reportedly malfunctioning.

However, according to earlier videos taken by a cable car expert, the emergency brake was disabled in 2014.