Operator of ski lift that killed girl, 13, escapes jail: Parents tell of their anguish at decision to give worker a suspended sentence after he admitted manslaughter 

Classmates looked on in horror as Poonam Bhattal, pictured, slipped out of a chairlift in the resort of Claviere in the Italian Alps in 2013

The parents of a teenage girl who died when she fell from a chair lift during a school ski trip have hit out after the lift operator walked free from court.

Classmates looked on in horror as Poonam Bhattal, 13, slipped out of the chairlift in the resort of Claviere in the Italian Alps in 2013.

The gifted, straight-A pupil, who was among 30 children on a half-term holiday, plunged around 20ft and landed on rocky ground.

She reportedly got up and said she was ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, I promise’ before deteriorating and collapsing 20 minutes later.

It later emerged the schoolgirl she had suffered internal injuries, including a laceration to her pulmonary vein, and she suffered a fatal heart attack.

Last week the ski lift operator, Jean Marc Luzzu, 52, walked free from court after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter at a hearing in Turin.

He was given a conditional sentence - equivalent of a suspended sentence - of 16 months while three other men were committed for trial in April 2017.

Last night Poonam’s parents said Luzzu had clearly not being doing his job properly and they were disappointed with the sentence.

In a statement her parents Amarjit and Jaswinder said: ‘We have believed all along that someone was at fault and it is a relief to have that confirmed, but then there is sorrow because if he had done his job properly then our daughter would still be alive.

‘If someone has died you expect a harsher sentence, but at the end of the day it’s not going to bring Poonam back. We all miss Poonam so much. She used to borrow my phone to take selfies all the time. I would tell her to stop, but now I treasure every picture.’

Poonam was on a half-term trip to the resort with her school, the Guru Nanak Sikh Academy in Hayes in London in February 2013 when tragedy struck on the first lift of the day, moments after the teenager had put on her skis.

She and three friends had got into a four-man chairlift but Poonam allegedly sat in the wrong seat and was left partially on a friend’s lap.

Poonam reportedly got up and said she was ‘I’m fine, I’m fine, I promise’ before deteriorating and collapsing 20 minutes later

At the time an investigator told La Stampa newspaper: ‘She ended up sitting in the arms of a school friend. Because of this the safety bar didn’t go all the way down, so at the first tremor of the lift, she slid and fell’.

The schoolgirl’s injuries were compounded by the fact that she fell not onto fresh snow but onto rocky ground near a stream.

A French skier, a teacher on a different school trip, said: ’There were no adults on the chair, just four youngsters altogether. I believe the children were messing around, jostling each other. They hadn’t managed to put the barrier down properly.’

Manuela Pedrotta, Italiabn prosecutor, said the accident happened in a resort that is largely in France but Poonam fell on Italian soil.

She said: ‘The ski lift is two thirds in French territory, but the girl fell and died on Italian soil. All this might lead to a clash between territorial competences and safety regulations of two different countries: Italy and France.’

Three other men were charged with involuntary manslaughter - Ivano Cumerlato, 60, Ermanno Magri, 61, Daniel Garcin, 49, and will face trial in 2017.

Mark Montaldo, from Slater and Gordon, who is representing the family in the civil action, said: ‘This tragic case highlights how easily skiing accidents can happen and how devastating the consequences can be.

‘The verdict is of little comfort to Poonam’s family, but what they hope now is that this serves as a warning to all ski resorts to ensure the highest safety standards and prevent more lives from being lost in this way.’

Last year another ski lift operator Richard Cettour, 50, escaped jail after he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter following the death of Kieran Brookes, 14, on a school ski trip in France.

Kieran was strangled when the straps of his backpack became entangled as he tried to get off a chairlift in the ski resort of Chatel in the French Alps.

At the time his parents, Cindy, 53 and Nick, both NHS managers, said: ‘Without widespread improvements across the industry we think a similar tragedy could happen again.’