At the end of «Medieval Festivals» in Brisighella (Ravenna) on the evening of Sunday 2 June, when people were leaving quickly due to the pouring rain, a Red Cross ambulance with three volunteers from the Faenza Committee on board, it lost control and hit some young pedestrians. One of these, a 34-year-old, was seriously injured to the point that – once taken to hospital – his leg had to be amputated below the knee.
The dynamics
The accident happened around 7pm on provincial road 23 which leads from the Rocca Veneziana towards the center of Brisighella. For reasons still being ascertained by part of the Carabinieri of the Faenza Company, a mechanical failure in the brakes is hypothesized, the ambulance driver lost control of the vehicle and hit some pedestrians who were proceeding along the side stretch of the road. When negotiating the bend in the road, the ambulance did not turn onto the road, but went straight and crashed into an equipped pick-up truck of the Brisighella Volunteer Group (Civil Protection), parked at the beginning of the parking area to support the medieval event and without anyone on board. Due to the impact the off-road vehicle broke through the wall adjacent side which, at least, prevented the ambulance from falling into the cliff below.
The rescue
The pedestrians involved were instead part of a small group that had gone to Brisighella to attend the “Medieval Festivals”. A young woman was slightly injured in the collision but the one who suffered the worst was a 34-year-old who was unable to get away and was practically crushed between the ambulance out of control and the pick up. The rescue car immediately started moving. The crew of the ambulance involved, which was then seized by the police, provided the first aid. Then some volunteers from the Brisighella association arrived in Civil Protection service during the event and afterwards the health workers of 118 Romagna Soccorso, with two ambulances and the air ambulance.
The hypothesis
The doctor, who was lowered with the rope to the site of the accident, immediately realized the seriousness of the injury to the young man’s limb and could do nothing but stabilize him, and then organize the red code transfer to the Bufalini hospital in Cesena. Here, unfortunately, after the appropriate investigations it was necessary to amputate the leg below the knee. The girl injured she was instead taken to the emergency room of Faenza hospital with medium severity code. The police investigations are ongoing and are oriented in two directions: the ambulance may have ‘gone crazy’ due to a mechanical system failure or extremely slippery conditions of the asphalt due to heavy rain.
