He saw that white car falling from the dock in the canal port of Rimini. It was still floating. He didn’t think about it for a moment and he dove in. He broke the passenger window, but the man inside shouted “I want to die! I want to die!”. And indeed the driver’s window was open. In an instant the water caused the car to sink and the tragedy occurred.
It is the dramatic story of Hazem Zakzouk, a 42-year-old Egyptian who has lived in Rimini for about twenty years where he works as a fisherman. Around 12.45 he was at the Bussola bar, a meeting place for the local navy, when he saw the car emerge at full speed from via F.lli Leurini and launch directly into the water. “I was afraid that there were also children inside – he says – because I saw a child seat on the back seat”. Instead the man was alone, a 53 year old from Rimini.
Zakzouk was also slightly injured, a cut on his hand which he received from the shattered window. But he didn’t even get medical treatment: “It’s nothing, a lot of things like that happen on a boat. If anything, I feel sorry for that poor guy, but I really couldn’t do anything, he didn’t want to be saved.” Someone at the fishermen’s bar then remembered having noticed that man inside the parked car, who had remained for a long time texting frantically with someone.
Hazem Zakzouk
The 53-year-old’s body was later extracted lifeless by divers. The Fire Brigade divers arrived specifically from Bologna by helicopter, which landed in Piazzale Boscovich. The car was brought back to the surface with a crane at 2.15pm. Also on site were 118, the Coast Guard, the Financial Police which has the moorings of its naval vessels nearby, the Carabinieri and the State Police patrol cars.
Press
