Washington Post
August 5, 2000
Pg. 14

Gondola Crash Suit Not Allowed In Italy

ROME--Italy's supreme court has ruled that Italian civil courts have no authority to hear a civil suit brought on behalf of the 20 people killed when a U.S. Marine jet sliced through a ski gondola cable in 1998, Italian state radio reported.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that the trade union representing the gondola car operator had attempted to bring a suit to challenge U.S. training missions in the Alpine area.

A Marine EA-6B Prowler jet sliced the gondola cable on a training mission on Feb. 3, 1998, sending the car's occupants plunging 370 feet to their deaths. The jet's pilot, Capt. Richard J. Ashby, was acquitted by a U.S. military tribunal of 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

(Associated Press)