Fourteen people, including Eitan’s Israeli parents, two-year-old brother and great-grandparents, were killed in the accident on May 24, after a cable snapped on the line bringing weekend visitors to the top of Mottarone mountain, in Piedmont.
All five of Eitan’s family members were buried in Israel a few days later.
“Early this morning Eitan was discharged from the Isola Margherita ward of the Regina Margherita hospital,” the Turin children’s hospital said in a statement.
“His condition is much improved now.”
The statement added that a full recovery would take 60 days.
The boy has been placed in the care of his aunt, who lives in Pavia, south of Milan, with her husband and two daughters.
Eitan was airlifted in critical condition to the hospital after the accident and spent a week in intensive care, suffering from severe chest and abdomen injuries.
The cable car accident, which came at the start of Italy’s much-anticipated reopening to tourists after coronavirus closures, was the country’s worst in over two decades.
It remains unclear why the pull cable snapped just before the car reached the summit on the 20-minute trip up the mountain.
Prosecutors in the city of Verbania have revealed, however, that emergency brakes which could have prevented the tragedy by stopping the car on its supporting cable had been deactivated.
Because the brake was not activated, the car flew backwards and crashed to the ground, sliding down the mountain before coming to a stop.
Police arrested the owner of the cable car operating company and a technical director, but released them soon thereafter, pending an investigation.
The company’s chief technician remains under house arrest.
He has admitted to disabling the brake system because of recurring malfunctions, according to the chief prosecutor.
He said he did it because the system was malfunctioning and had halted service several times, and insisted that he acted in agreement with the two other suspects.
But judge, Donatella Banci Bonamici, found a “total lack of evidence against Nerini and Perocchio”, according to a ruling quoted by Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Sunday.
According to the judge, Tadini tried to shift some of the blame on his two superiors after acting “with total disregard for human life, with bewildering carelessness”.
With ANSA
