CSKA Moscow fans plan to sue Rome authorities over escalator collapse – reports
Fans from Russian football club CSKA Moscow are reportedly planning to sue the Rome authorities over the escalator collapse that left around 30 people injured ahead of a Champions League match in the Italian capital on Tuesday.
Fans were traveling to the match at Roma’s Stadio Olimpico via the Repubblica metro station when an escalator ran out of control, causing a mass pile-up at the bottom of the steps.
Nineteen people were hospitalized, 16 of them Russian, while one fan reportedly lost a foot in the incident.
Reports in the Italian press had claimed that CSKA fans were to blame for the accident by jumping on the escalator, with Interior Minister Matteo Salvini reportedly saying the collapse was caused by “dozens of drunken Russian fans.”
CSKA fans have angrily rejected that claim, saying that while there was singing and chanting, supporters were only standing on the escalator.
Еще одно видео из римского метро, на котором видно, что болельщики ЦСКА спускались в метро спокойно #РомаЦСКА#RomaCSKApic.twitter.com/jNUBG1gtDR
— Фанаты ЦСКА★RBWorld (@RBWorldorg) October 24, 2018
The club’s official fansite, Red-Blue World, has now asked for victims to send information so that an official lawsuit can be filed against the Roman authorities.
"To submit a collective claim to the Roman side, we ask all victims to contact the fan club, and also to keep all references and extracts that you received or will receive during treatment, all documents that indicate and describe what injuries were received, and what has been done by medical institutions," a statement on the group’s website reads.
Rome’s public prosecutor and Atac, the company that manages the city’s transport system, have launched an investigation into the accident.
#Roma#metro#repubblica, aggiornamento ore 21:00: terminata la prima fase dell’intervento dei #vigilidelfuoco, tutti i feriti sono stati soccorsi e avviati agli ospedali. Prosegue l’intervento di messa in sicurezza pic.twitter.com/PpqwYlmBDm
— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) October 23, 2018
An official from an Italian trade union said the incident appeared to have been caused by “an overload on the escalator.”
“We ask for maintenance works carried out by external companies to be monitored; for some time now we have called for such fundamental Atac jobs to be internalized,” said Michele Frullo from the USB union, according to the Guardian.
At a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in Moscow on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked the Rome mayor and Italian medical staff for their help treating injured Russian fans.
