Eitan Biran, the five-year-old Israeli who was the lone survivor of a cable car crash in northern Italy last month, was discharged from the hospital on Thursday, Italian media reported.
The boy, who lost his parents, little brother and a set of great-grandparents in the tragedy, has also been told about what happened to his family.
“He is slowly learning what happened from his relatives and from the psychologists who are supporting him,” said Cristina Pigna, a lawyer hired by Eitan’s aunt Aya Biran, according to Italian daily La Stampa. “He has found out about the consequences of the tragedy in the manner agreed upon by doctors, specialists and family members. We are talking about a long and delicate process.”
The boy has been placed in the care of his aunt Aya, Amit’s sister, who lives in Pavia with her husband and two daughters. Pavia, 35 km. south of Milan, is renowned for its university, which attracts many Israelis.
Amit Biran, 30, studied medicine there. On May 23, he, his wife, Tal Peleg, 27, Eitan and two-year-old Tom decided to celebrate a visit from Tal’s grandparents from Israel – Barbara Cohen Konisky, 71, and Itshak Cohen, 82 – with a day trip.
The Stresa-Mottarone cable car would take tourists and locals from the town on Lake Maggiore, almost 1,400 m. above sea level, to the top of Mount Mottarone in 20 minutes.
Some 14 people, including the five Israelis, died when the gondola plunged to the ground after the pulling cable broke. Eitan, the only survivor, was hospitalized in critical conditions at the Regina Margherita Hospital in nearby Turin. It took a few days before the doctors announced that his life was no longer in danger.
Italian investigators discovered that the emergency brakes had been deactivated to hide some malfunctions that would have prevented the structure from operating.
Gabriele Tadini, 63, director of the cable car, has confessed. Other people are under investigation, including the owner of the company operating the service – which belongs to the local authorities – and an engineer in charge of maintenance.
If the emergency brakes had been functioning when the pulling cable broke, the mechanism would have prevented the gondola from sliding back at a high speed and crashing into the mountain.
According to reports in the Italian media, Eitan does not remember anything about the crash, which the doctors believe is due to a post-traumatic amnesia.