Italy Motorway Chief Cleared Of Deadly 2013 Coach Crash

An Italian court on Friday cleared the head of the Autostrade motorway operator of responsibility in the deaths of 40 people in a 2013 coach crash, and jailed several others

Milan, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jan, 2019 ) :An Italian court on Friday cleared the head of the Autostrade motorway operator of responsibility in the deaths of 40 people in a 2013 coach crash, and jailed several others.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence for Giovanni Castellucci, 59, for failing to maintain a guard rail corroded by salt which allowed the coach to plunge 30 metres (100 feet) in one of Europe's worst road accidents.

"Shame! This isn't justice!" victims' relatives shouted as the verdict was read out at the courtroom in the southern town of Avellino, Italian media reported.

The tourist bus, which was carrying around 50 pilgrims who had visited a Catholic shrine, rammed several cars after its brakes failed on a bend near Avellino on July 28, 2013.

After careening down the motorway without brakes for about a kilometre, the driver attempted to stop on the hard shoulder but the viaduct's safety rail collapsed and the coach plunged into the void.

After a two-and-a-half year trial of 15 suspects, the court jailed several over the disaster, including the coach's owner Gennaro Lametta, for 12 years.

Lametta, the brother of the coach driver who died in the crash, was convicted of manslaughter and for failing to maintain the coach's brakes.

The court also jailed Antoinetta Ceriola from the Naples vehicle registration service for eight years for forging the coach's safety certificate.