Gondola Accident Victims’ Families to Get Damages

Families of the 20 people who died when a U.S. Marine jet clipped a cable-car line in the Italian Alps will each receive up to $2 million in damages under a new law approved by Italy’s Senate.

The legislation, adopted late Tuesday, names a special commissioner to identify the victims’ relatives, determine the damages due and pay out the sum within three months.

Under a North Atlantic Treaty Organization convention, the host country pays 25% of the damages, while the country responsible for the accident pays the rest. The treaty allows nations to try their own military officers and regulates compensation in accidents involving two NATO nations.

“The United States stands ready, as it always has, to honor its obligations,” U.S. Ambassador Thomas M. Foglietta said. He said the funds would probably be paid out in the first months of 2000.

A U.S. EA-6B Prowler jet on a low-level training mission sliced the cable-car line at the Italian ski resort of Cavalese on Feb. 3, 1998, sending 20 Europeans plunging to their deaths.

The jet’s pilot, Capt. Richard Ashby, 32, of Mission Viejo, was acquitted by a U.S. military court of manslaughter but was sentenced this year to six months in prison and ordered dismissed from the Marine Corps for helping destroy a videotape of the flight. The jet’s navigator also was ordered dismissed from the Marines.

Foglietta said that rules governing flights at American bases in Italy have been tightened to prevent similar accidents.

U.S. officials said they will reimburse Italy 75% of whatever it decides to pay families who file claims. Italy has already given the families $55,000, and the United States paid 75% of that.