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SHOOTING

Italian judge asked to jail ultra for life over rival fan shooting

Rome prosecutors on Tuesday requested a life sentence for one of Italy's most notorious football hooligans over the fatal shooting of a rival fan before the 2014 Italian Cup final.

Published: 20 April 2016 09:31 CEST
Italian judge asked to jail ultra for life over rival fan shooting
De Santis is accused of shooting rival fan Ciro Esposito before a match in 2014. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Daniele De Santis, a Roma 'ultra' is accused of shooting Ciro Esposito during clashes with Napoli fans who were in Rome for the Coppa Italia final against Fiorentina.

Esposito died from his injuries 53 days later.
   
Lawyers for De Santis told the final session of his trial that he had acted in self-defence.
   
Prosecutors are seeking three-year prison terms for two Napoli fans involved in the violence in the Tor di Quinto suburb of Rome.
   
Verdicts are expected at the end of May.
   
Ultras are gangs of fans who pride themselves on their dedication to their clubs and are frequently associated with the violence that continues to blight Italian football.
   
The incidents before the 2014 Cup final made headlines around the world.
   
At least five police were injured trying to break up a string of clashes between Roma and Napoli ultras in the hours before the match.
   
After a 45-minute delay to kick-off, a decision was made to go ahead with the game. Napoli beat Fiorentina 3-1 in a final played largely in silence.

ACCIDENT

German tourists among 13 dead in Italy cable car accident

Thirteen people, including German tourists, have been killed after a cable car disconnected and fell near the summit of the Mottarone mountain near Lake Maggiore in northern Italy.

Published: 23 May 2021 14:15 CEST
Updated: 23 May 2021 16:46 CEST
German tourists among 13 dead in Italy cable car accident
The local emergency services published this photograph of the wreckage. Photo: Vigili del Fuoco

The accident was announced by Italy’s national fire and rescue service, Vigili del Fuoco, at 13.50 on Sunday, with the agency saying over Twitter that a helicopter from the nearby town of Varese was on the scene. 

Italy’s National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps confirmed that there were 13 victims and two seriously injured people.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that German tourists were among the 13 victims.

According to their report, there were 15 passengers inside the car — which can hold 35 people — at the time a cable snapped, sending it tumbling into the forest below. Two seriously injured children, aged nine and five, were airlifted to hospital in Turin. 

The cable car takes tourists and locals from Stresa, a resort town on Lake Maggiore up to a panoramic peak on the Mottarone mountain, reaching some 1,500m above sea level. 

According to the newspaper, the car had been on its way from the lake to the mountain when the accident happened, with rescue operations complicated by the remote forest location where the car landed. 

The cable car had reopened on April 24th after the end of the second lockdown, and had undergone extensive renovations and refurbishments in 2016, which involved the cable undergoing magnetic particle inspection (MPI) to search for any defects. 

Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Twitter that he expressed his “condolences to the families of the victims, with special thoughts for the seriously injured children and their families”.

Infrastructure Minister Enrico Giovannini told Italy’s Tg1 a commission of inquiry would be established, according to Corriere della Sera: “Our thoughts go out to those involved. The Ministry has initiated procedures to set up a commission and initiate checks on the controls carried out on the infrastructure.”

“Tomorrow morning I will be in Stresa on Lake Maggiore to meet the prefect and other authorities to decide what to do,” he said.

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