The 6-year-old boy who was the only person who survived a cable car accident Italy earlier this year he is now at the center of a custody dispute between his maternal and paternal relatives, with a gang claiming he was transferred to Israel over the weekend without his permission.
Fourteen people, including Eitan Biran’s parents and little brother, died in the May 23 accident in the Italian Alps. After the boy was released from Turin hospital after weeks of treatment for serious injuries, Italian juvenile court officials decided the boy could live with a paternal aunt near Pavia in northern Italy.
But the aunt, Aya Biran, told reporters on Sunday that the day before, Eitan’s maternal grandfather took the boy on an agreed-upon visit for the day and flew him without permission to Israel.
On May 26, the remains of a cable car are seen after collapsing near the top of the Stresa-Mottarone line in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.
(AP)
HORRIBLE VIDEOS SHOW A MOMENT OF ITALIAN TELEPHONY DIVING TO THE GROUND
“Her bed is empty, her toys and clothes are left behind. Her new desk, school backpack, notebooks, pencil case and books were ready” for her first day of class on Monday, she said. say, according to the Associated Press.
Aya Biran added that the boy has undergone both physical therapy and psychotherapy since he was released from hospital and had to undergo follow-up medical visits this week, including one in Turin.
He stated that when his maternal grandfather had come to pick him up for a arranged visit on Saturday morning, it was agreed that the boy would return to dinner. When Eitan did not return, the aunt filed a police report Saturday night, according to Italian news reports.
The AP was unable to immediately contact the maternal grandfather for comment. But a sister of Eitan’s late mother denied that the boy had been snatched from Italy.
“We did not kidnap Eitan,” Gali Peleg told Israel’s 103 FM radio station. “We won’t use that word. What happened is we took Eitan home.”
Gali Peleg would not say exactly where the boy was, only that he had arrived on Saturday. “We are taking care of her emotional state and her health.”
3 DETERMINED IN ITALY CABLE SHOCK
In Italy, Aya Biran told reporters that the boy had Italian citizenship and had lived with his parents since he was a child in Italy before the accident. It was not immediately possible to confirm whether the child also had Israeli citizenship, but apparently had an Israeli passport.
“We are upset and incredulous that they have come this far,” Armando Sibari, a lawyer for Eitan’s relatives in Italy, told La Repubblica. Jerusalem Post. “This is a very serious act that will be investigated.”
The Italian foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the case.
The aunt in Israel told the radio station that the boy “cried out in excitement when he saw us. He said,“ I’m finally in Israel. ”The aunt added that“ all we did was only for the good of the boy. ”
Pavia prosecutors closed on Sunday and investigators were unable to contact him immediately to comment to the PA on Italian news that they were considering opening an investigation into the case.
“I am confident and full of hope” that the Israeli and Italian authorities will work together “to ensure their return home” to Italy, Aya Biran told reporters.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
The Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted a paternal uncle, Or Nirko, who said on Saturday that the Pelegians had the boy’s Israeli passport and had not given it to his paternal relatives despite the Italian court order to do so before 30 p.m. ‘August. He quoted the boy’s maternal grandparents as saying that if he stayed in Italy, “Eitan would have grown up with no ties to his (Israeli) identity.”
According to the paternal relatives, the maternal family had challenged in the Italian courts the custody agreement that allowed Eitan to live with Biran, who is a doctor with his own children.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.