ROME (AP) – The only six-year-old boy who has survived a car crash this year in northern Italy is embroiled in a bitter feud between Israeli grandparents and his Italian relatives, who say the child traveled illegally in Israel on weekends.
Fourteen people, including Eitan Biran’s parents and younger brother, were killed when a windmill crashed into the side of a hill on May 23 after the rope broke. After the boy was released from a hospital in Turin after a few weeks of intensive care, Italian juvenile court officials ruled that the child could live with his paternal uncle near Pavia, in northern Italy. But his aunt, Aya Biran, told reporters on Sunday that the day before, Eitan’s grandfather had taken the boy on an arranged trip, and then flew away without permission to Israel.
He said the boy had been receiving medical treatment since his discharge and was due to go to hospital this week, including in Turin.
“The bed was empty, her toys and clothes were left behind. Her new desk, school bag, pens, pencil and books were ready “on her first day of class on Monday, she said.
The aunt said that when the grandfather came to pick her up on Saturday morning, they agreed to let the boy come back for dinner. But after Eitan did not return, the aunt filed a report on Saturday night, Italian media reported.
The man’s grandfather was not immediately available for comment. But the sister of Eitan’s late mother denied that the boy had been taken from Italy.
“We did not take the Eitan,” Gali Peleg told 103 FM in Israel. ”We do not use the word. What happened was that we brought Eitan home. “
Gali Peleg could not say where the boy was, but that he had arrived on Saturday. “We care about her mood and health.”
In Italy, Aya Biran told reporters that the boy was an Italian citizen and had lived with his parents since he was a child in Italy before the accident. It was not possible to confirm whether the child was an Israeli citizen but that he had an Israeli passport.
The Italian foreign minister did not comment on the case.
Her aunt in Israel told the radio that the boy “screamed with joy when he saw us. He also said, ‘Now I am in Israel.’ The aunt added that “everything we did was in the boy’s interest.”
The Pavia police station was closed on Sunday and investigators could not immediately be reached for comment on the Italian case.
“I am confident and confident” that Israeli and Italian officials will work together to “ensure their return to Italy,” Aya Biran told reporters.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted the father’s uncle, Or Nirko, as saying on Saturday that the Pelegs had a passport from the Israeli boy and had failed to provide them with relatives even though a court in Italy had ordered them to do so on August 30. Nirko had claimed that the young man insisted that if he had lived in Italy, “Eitan would have grown up without a bond (Israel).”
According to the parents of their parents, their mother’s family has challenged in Italian courts an order for Eitan to stay with Biran, a doctor with his own children.
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Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem.