Mayor Biondi: “Out of respect for his wife and children, the choice to cancel the event is the right one”
«With the pain in our hearts for this new tragedy that struck the 118 operators, together with the organizers of the event and together with the managing director Livio Vittorini, who had followed the entire organizational phase, we shared the need to cancel the Air events Shows scheduled for today and tomorrow.” The announcement came from the mayor of L’Aquila, Pierluigi Biondi after the inspection at the Parchi Airport where yesterday morning a pilot from the Avincis company, entrusted with the air rescue service in Abruzzo, lost his life when hit by a tanker.
The victim, only 41 years old, working as a co-pilot in the 118 service, was called Paolo Dal Pozzo and was originally from Varese. Before the Air Show rehearsals which should have opened the two-day celebration with the Frecce Tricolori in L’Aquila, a tanker hit him and killed him during a maneuver at Preturo airport.
The Frecce tests were immediately cancelled. «Out of respect for this person’s wife and children – said Mayor Biondi – the choice to cancel the demonstration is the right one that could have been made. I informed the prefect that in the afternoon he will coordinate an operational meeting in the Prefecture. I also spoke with him to understand how to manage the tens of thousands of people who were expected for the exhibition of the tricolor arrows and who could arrive in significant numbers in the city of L’Aquila this weekend”. The president of the Abruzzo Region, Marco Marsilio, also spoke on the matter. «The tragic news that has upset what was supposed to be a day of celebration in L’Aquila makes us all sad. On behalf of myself and the entire regional council, I offer my condolences to the family of the 118 pilot who lost his life at Preturo airport”, he underlined. The National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, together with the Abruzzo regional service, expressed its “condolences for the passing of our friend and fellow rescuer Paolo Dal Pozzo, co-pilot of the 118 helicopter rescue service in L’Aquila, victim of a tragic accident which occurred this morning at the Preturo airport. To Paolo’s family and friends, to the ASL 1 Avezzano Sulmona L’Aquila, to the Avincis company, the sincere closeness of all the operators of the Alpine and Speleological Rescue”.
