“Yesterday afternoon in Palermo Giampaolo Abeltino suddenly passed away (Gianni in his family and friends)”. Thus the parish priest of Palau, Don Paolo Pala, announced the passing of his fellow villager, who everyone remembers as Gianni, pilot of the 118 helicopter rescue service in Palermo. Abeltino was 60 years old. He died while he was in a taxi in via Dante. He had just been discharged from a clinic in Palermo after being hospitalized for some cardiac checks.
“We still don’t know when the funeral will be celebrated – continues the priest -. Our most affectionate condolences go to all the family members in Italy and the USA. May the Lord welcome Gianni’s soul into his peace, rewarding him for his goodness, the fineness of the line, and his love for his family and his profession. Now he is in the company of his mother, aunt Franca”.
Abeltino – who miraculously escaped a plane crash in 2007 – had been living in Palermo for some time. After graduating in Sardinia, at the La Maddalena nautical school, he went to Livorno for the Naval Academy course. Shortly after he moved to the United States, where he became a military aircraft pilot, then returned to Italy and worked in Palermo.
