A group of children between 3 and 5 years old, who were playing in the kindergarten garden, was hit by a car which broke through the external fence and hit the little ones. One of them, just 4 years old, died, while 5 others were injured. Two children were transferred to Rome, to Gemelli and to Bambin Gesù.
The condition of the child who lost his life immediately seemed dramatic. The doctors did what was necessary to revive him, but the baby died during the transport to the hospital in L’Aquila.
The accident occurred at the Pile Primo Maggio school which includes a kindergarten and a kindergarten and is located in via Salaria Antica Est, in the immediate outskirts of L’Aquila. The car, a gray Volkswagen Passat, was parked on a sloping street when, for reasons yet to be ascertained, it set off.
From the first information it seems that the car belongs to a mother who had gone to pick up her son from kindergarten, leaving the other child, about eight years old, for a few minutes in the car. And, this is the hypothesis, the child would be able to release the brake. The downhill car picked up speed immediately. A tragic hypothesis that will in any case have to be confirmed by the investigators. The boy has not been injured but is in shock.
Ambulances, firefighters, police, carabinieri and city brigades are on site. Rescuers had to free some small children stuck between the car’s engine compartment and the gate as quickly as possible. Prosecutor Stefano Gallo is listening to the various witnesses in the presence of Monia Lai, head teacher of the comprehensive Mazzini institute to which the school belongs.
Fear and dismay also for the other children, the teachers and the parents who went to get their children. “With some children – says the teacher who with others has immediately welcomed all the children, including the injured ones – into the school – we tried to pretend that it was a game, or at least to minimize it, explaining that today parents came to pick them up early. But how difficult it is. “
“I am deeply saddened, I can not even imagine the pain that the parents of the injured children are feeling. As a father and as a representative of the institutions I am appalled. It is terrible news: we hope and pray that the toll will not worsen”, commented the mayor of L’Aquila, Pierluigi Biondi, immediately after visiting the accident site. The mayor then went to the San Salvatore hospital in L’Aquila where the children were hospitalized and proclaimed the city mourning, canceling any event scheduled for tomorrow, May 19.
“We learned this tragic news paradoxically while we were celebrating the first child born in Fontecchio, in the internal areas, after the approval of the depopulation law; the first born who received the contribution to the birth rate. We are all shocked and close to the pain of the families. . We hope that this tragedy does not worsen, we are in contact with the health professionals to constantly monitor the evolution of the situation “said the president of the Abruzzo Region, Marco Marsilio.
“We express our strongest condolences to the whole community of L’Aquila, to the kindergarten, to the families and of course to the mother and father of the deceased child”, he said in the Chamber of the Chamber. Paolo Siani, deputy of the Pd. Other deputies from various parliamentary groups also joined Siani’s condolences.