The toll of Vittoria’s tragedy worsens. Her daughter, Sameh Zaouali, 33, also died. The girl died this evening at the Cannizzaro burns center in Catania where she had been hospitalized together with her sister. There is great sorrow in the city for what happened. No one could have foreseen that the drama could assume such devastating proportions.
The provisional toll from the fire which occurred during the night in Vittoria, in the San Giovanni district, in Piazza Trinità is therefore two dead and two very seriously injured. This morning the mother of the thirty-year-old Tunisian who set fire to the house and doused her parents and family members with petrol passed away. The victim is Mariem Sassi, 55 years old. The North African arsonist was tracked down and taken to the offices of the Victoria state police station to be questioned in the presence of his lawyer. At the end it will be up to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Ragusa to adopt the legal measures after having also ascertained the health status of the thirty-year-old. From what emerged, in fact, it seems that he had been suffering from psychiatric problems for some time which could trigger non-punishment. The Tunisian had already gone into a rage on other occasions and the intervention of the 118 health workers had been necessary to bring him back to his senses. The young man’s father is in very serious condition; he is hospitalized at the Palermo Civic Hospital. The two sisters involved in the fire were hospitalized at the “Cannizzaro” in Catania. Sameh, as mentioned, didn’t make it. She passed away in the evening. The fire was started using a torch with a rag soaked in flammable liquid. The fire broke out around 2.30 am in a small house, a few meters from the former Trinità church, now deconsecrated, which gives its name to the neighborhood of the same name, one of the oldest in the city. The flames were put out by firefighters. The property was destroyed. The young perpetrator of the fire was immediately searched for by the police and tracked down within a few hours.
