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Italy's motorway chief cleared of deadly 2013 bus crash

AFP
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Italy's motorway chief cleared of deadly 2013 bus crash
The site of the 2013 bus crash in southern Italy, one of Europe's worst road accidents. Photo: Stringer/AFP

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.

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Prosecutors had sought a ten-year sentence for Giovanni Castellucci for failing to maintain a corroded guard rail that allowed the coach to plunge 30 metres in one of Europe's worst road accidents

The tourist bus, which was carrying around 50 pilgrims who had visited a Catholic shrine, rammed several cars after failing to brake on a bend near Avellino in southern Italy.

It then smashed through the safety rail of a viaduct and plunged into the void. The US-imported Jersey concrete barrier, corroded by salt used to keep the road ice-free in winter months, shattered on impact.

READ ALSO: Mass funeral for Italy's bus crash victims


Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The court jailed several other people 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 lying about the vehicle's maintenance.

The court also jailed Antoinetta Ceriola from the Naples vehicle registration service for eight years. Four local Autostrade employees were jailed for five years for negligence, and two others for six years.

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

Autostrade, which runs almost half of Italy's motorway network, has come under huge pressure since a bridge it maintained in Genoa collapsed in August, killing 43 people.

Castellucci is under investigation for the collapse of the Morandi bridge, which had suffered from structural problems for decades, prompting severe criticism from engineering experts.

READ ALSO: 'Thousands of Italian bridges will be in crisis in the next 20 years'


Photo: Piero Cruciatti/AFP

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