AIR CRASH RESCUE NEWS:
>
> April 22, 2002 - Italy Plane Crash Theory Disputed
>
> ROME, Italy - Relatives of the pilot whose plane slammed into a Milan
> skyscraper ruled out suicide as the cause Sunday, and police said there
was
> no conclusive evidence to support the theory that the pilot intended to
kill
> himself.
>
> Nevertheless, as the investigation ground on, Italian officials still
> expressed doubts that the crash was entirely accidental.
>
> ``It wasn't suicide? Then we'll call it voluntary collision,'' the
Lombardy
> regional president, Roberto Formigioni, was quoted as saying in several
> Italian newspapers Sunday.
>
> The pilot, Luigi Fasulo, and two others were killed when his plane struck
the
> center of the landmark Pirelli tower. Two floors of the building were
gutted
> in the Thursday's crash, which rekindled images of the Sept. 11 attacks in
> the United States.
>
> Italian authorities ruled out terrorism, but suggested three other
> possibilities: that the plane experienced mechanical problems, that the
pilot
> fell ill at the controls, or that he killed himself.
>
> An autopsy is planned for this week to determine if a sudden heart attack
or
> another ailment might have led Fasulo to lose control of the aircraft.
>
> The suicide theory first surfaced when the pilot's son, Marco Fasulo, was
> quoted Friday by the Milan daily La Repubblica as saying his father may
have
> committed suicide because of despair over his finances.
>
> The elder Fasulo had recently been swindled out of $1.54 million by a
group
> of business associates, one of whom was arrested in France hours after the
> crash in connection with an art-selling ring, Italian news reports said.
>
> In their first statement since Thursday's crash, Fasulo's family
acknowledged
> the slain pilot, nicknamed Gino, had been ``duped by a band of
swindlers.''
>
> Nevertheless, they said, he never would have taken his life as a result.
>
> ``The entire Fasulo family excludes the hypothesis of suicide,'' read the
> statement released through the Italian news agency ANSA. ``Gino was a
> generous person, always ready to comfort others ... who never would have
put
> in danger another life.''
>
> They said the son's comments about suicide were uttered ``at a moment of
pain
> and anger'' and should not have been cited by Repubblica.
>
> Earlier in the day, Milan police chief Enzo Boncoraglio also said
> investigators had received no conclusive evidence to support the suicide
> theory. However, he said, the only hypothesis police could rule out was
that
> it was a terrorist act.
>
> The first 11 floors of the Pirelli tower, with some exceptions, are due to
> reopen Monday.
>