The station master of Andria and the conductor were found guilty. The relatives of the 23 victims: ‘A shame’
Fourteen acquittals and two convictions, those of the station master of Andria, Vito Piccarretaand of the approxpotreno of the convoy departed from Andria and directed to Corato, Nicola Lorizzo known were ordered by the Court of Trani at the end of the trial for the railway disaster of 12 July 2016, which occurred along the single-track Andria-Corato section of the Ferrovie del Nord Barese, managed by Ferrotramviaria. In the head-on collision between two trains, determined – according to the indictment – by human error and lack of investment in safety, 23 people died and another 51 were injured.
Piccarreta was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months in prison and Lorizzo to 7 years. Both will have to compensate the civil parties. All the other defendants acquitted. The administrative offense of Ferrotramviaria has also been excluded ‘because the fact does not exist’.
“It’s a shame“. “This is not justice: you killed them twice”. “Aren’t they ashamed? 23 died”. “How do they sleep at night?” Are the words of some family members of the 23 victims of the disaster on the single-track section between Andria and Corato on 12 July seven years ago after the reading of the sentence which convicted two people and acquitted 14 of them. At the first acquittals in the courtroom, some of the family members burst into tears , others remained impassive like Giuseppe Bianchino, father of Alessandra who died at the age of 29. “It’s not a fair sentence,” said Anna Aloysi, Maria’s sister who died in the disaster, in tears.
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