Gondola Dead’s Kin Press Claim Against U.S.

Relatives of 20 people killed when a Marine jet caused a ski gondola to crash in Italy last year asked President Clinton to compensate them for their losses.

As they prepared to return to Europe after the first week of testimony in the court-martial of a Marine pilot charged in the case, the victims’ families questioned why the United States would pay $20 million to replace a damaged ski lift but so far not act on their claims.

“Please assure that America will value the life of my father and my sister more than the value of a cable car,” Sindy Renkewitz said in a letter to Clinton sent on behalf of the families.

The families from Italy and Germany have viewed the proceedings at Camp Lejeune Marine base on closed-circuit television. They stayed at a condominium about an hour from the base.

On Friday, they heard witnesses recall the moment the EA-6B Prowler struck a pair of cables, sending the gondola on a 400-foot plunge.

Prosecutors allege that Marine Capt. Richard Ashby of Mission Viejo was intentionally flying too low and too fast.

The defense says that Ashby, 31, had no way of knowing ski cables were strung across his flight path.

Also Friday, Bruno Avi, a Cavalese helicopter pilot who rescued a gondola operator whose car was suspended on the damaged lift line for an hour after the incident, said the cables are difficult to see even in a slower-moving helicopter.