Victims of Italy cable car crash to be flown to Israel tomorrow for burial

The bodies of the five members of the Biran family killed in the cable car crash in northern Italy yesterday will be flown to Israel tomorrow for burial, Hebrew media reports.

The lone survivor of the disaster that killed 14 people, 5-year-old Eitan Biran, remains hospitalized in Italy. He was apparently saved by the embrace of his father, who died when the cabin crashed to the ground, a hospital spokesperson said yesterday.

“In order to be able to survive the terrible impact, it is likely that the father, who was of robust build, wrapped his son in a hug,” the Regina Margherita Hospital in Turin said, according to the Italian la Repubblica newspaper.

Rescuers work by the wreckage of a cable car after it collapsed near the summit of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region, northern Italy, Sunday, May 23, 2021. (Italian Vigili del Fuoco Firefighters via AP)

The Israeli boy, who resided in Italy with his family, is hospitalized with multiple broken bones. “We await the next 48 hours. The situation is critical, but bodes well,” Giovanni La Valle, the director of health services in Turin, told la Repubblica.

The child’s parents, younger brother, and two great-grandparents were all killed.