Plant stood on property
Woman dies in illegal cable car – Walliser convicted
In Valais, a woman died on a private cable car due to a lack of safety precautions. The facility belonged to her brother-in-law. The man has now been sentenced for the accident.
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A gondola on a private funicular became a death trap for a woman. She was trapped due to lack of safety precautions.
Winter 2014. A funicular railway arrives on a hill in Valais. Inside are two people – one opens the door and gets out, the system starts moving. The other person, a 68-year-old, was trapped between the gondola and a pillar.
Only after half an hour can the woman be freed by her family and flown to the hospital in Sion by helicopter. The doctors can no longer help her. She dies.
The cable car owner has now been convicted of negligent homicide for the accident, as reported by the “Nouvelliste”. The dead woman is the man’s sister-in-law. According to prosecutors, he had removed the security system that would have prevented the gondola from moving while the door was open.
Cable car owner suffers from claustrophobia
The public prosecutor’s office also accused him of not having obtained a permit from the canton. Because it was only through the accident that it came out that the man had built the system illegally on his property.
The cable car owner explained that he only turned off the safety mechanism because he suffers from claustrophobia, the fear of being indoors, which is why he wanted to use the cable car with the door open. The death of his sister-in-law, with whom he had a good relationship, hit him hard.
He doesn’t have to go to jail for the accident. The law makes it possible to refrain from punishment if someone is mentally damaged as a result of the crime. The court saw it as proven that the man suffered from depression. However, he has to bear the legal costs of 18,000 francs. The man has now sold the cable car. (twa)