Israeli boy who survived Italy cable car crash reportedly abducted by grandfather

Amid a guardianship battle, Eitan Biran, 6, the sole survivor of a cable car his family was riding in which plunged into an Italian mountainside in May, has reportedly been taken by his Israeli family to Israel in a suspected abduction.

His current legal guardian, Aya Biran-Nirko, the Italy-based sister of Eitan’s father, Amit Biran, has filed a complaint with the Italian police claiming that the child was abducted by his grandfather, Shmuel Peleg, Kan’s Antonia Yamin reports.

Eitan is said to have left his house in Fabia, northern Italy, with Peleg on Saturday morning but did not return by early evening as had been agreed. Biran-Nirko repeatedly tried to reach Peleg until she received a message from him saying that, “Eitan has returned home,” the report says.

Biran-Nirko has reportedly since received a message from the Peleg’s lawyer confirming that Eitan arrived in Israel.

According to the report, Eitan’s travel to Israel was made possible because the Peleg family continued to hold his Israeli passport, contrary to an Italian judge’s order.

Fourteen people, including Eitan’s father Amit Biran, 30, mother Tal Peleg-Biran, 26, 2-year-old brother Tom, and great-grandparents Barbara and Yitzhak Cohen of Tel Aviv, 71 and 81, respectively, were killed in the May 24 accident, after a cable snapped on the aerial tram bringing weekend visitors to the top of the Piedmont region’s Mottarone Mountain. All five were buried in Israel a few days later.