The investigation into the explosion and subsequent fire of the prototype car that occurred last Friday on the Naples ring road has been entrusted to the magistrates of the sixth section (work and professional misconduct) of the Naples Public Prosecutor's Office (coordinated by Deputy Prosecutor Simona Di Monte).

A Cnr manager was heard today at the Naples prosecutor's office NAPLES as part of the investigation into the explosion. In addition, the seizure of a car identical to the one destroyed, a Volkswagen Polo Tdi, was ordered, a prototype used as part of a project called "Life-Save" aimed at testing the possibility of combining an electric motor with batteries powered by solar panels with cars equipped with a thermal engine with the aim of reducing emissions into the environment.

According to what has emerged so far, the powerful explosion, which by chance did not involve other cars, was caused by some gas cylinders whose contents, at the moment, remain unknown: a report by the fire brigade will shed light on the type of gas they contained.

The official was questioned this morning by the Highway Police as part of the investigation coordinated by the Naples Prosecutor's Office (sixth section, deputy prosecutor Simona Di Monte). The twin car of the destroyed one, which was seized by the Highway Police in Fisciano, will be used for subsequent investigations that the Naples investigating office could soon entrust to consultants.

According to what has been learned, a former professor is interested in this project. The aim of the investigators is now to discover the reason why the cylinders were on board the Polo, whether their presence was linked to the project and whether their transport was taking place in safe conditions.

In the serious accident, which purely by chance did not involve other vehicles and which is currently being investigated by the Highway Police , the 66-year-old CNR researcher Maria Vittoria Prati , who was driving, and 25-year-old Fulvio Filace , sitting in the passenger seat (who suffered slightly less serious injuries only because he managed to throw himself out of the car), an engineering graduate and intern at the same research centre, were seriously injured.

Their conditions are considered very serious by the health workers of the burns unit of the Cardarelli hospital in Naples.

University of Salerno: “Not our vehicle”

 “The University of Salerno expresses its full support to Dr. Maria Vittoria Prati, senior researcher at the CNR, and to student Fulvio Filace of the University of Naples Federico II – and their respective families – involved in the tragic explosion that occurred last Friday on the Naples ring road.

In reference to the news that has appeared in the press, the University is forced to firmly clarify that the vehicle involved in the tragic event is not the property of the University of Salerno, nor was it entrusted to the University of Salerno for road tests”.

This is what we read in a press release from the University of Salerno. “Furthermore, the University – it is added – is not a partner in the LIFE-SAVE (Solar Aided Vehicle Electrification) project, within which the vehicle cited by the press was developed”.

“The studies conducted in the past at the University of Salerno have contributed to the basic knowledge necessary for the development of solar hybrid vehicles, subsequently applied with industrial objectives by spin-off companies not participated in by the University and currently autonomous commercial companies”, continues the note in which the university states that “it reserves the right to act in all appropriate venues to protect its institutional interests and its image”.