Traversetolo He fell into the water, overwhelmed by the fury of the Termina, while he was checking that the flood did not come close to his curing plant in Castione. And after a brief desperate attempt to save himself by clinging to a branch, he was dragged away by the impetuous current, which left him no escape. The lifeless body of Bruno Uccelli, an 85-year-old entrepreneur, was found lifeless by the firefighters after a couple of hours of frantic searches, three kilometers further downstream, near the Lido Valtermina facilities, where he had remained entangled in some trees.
The tragedy occurred in a few moments, around 5.30pm. The 85-year-old surveyor was the owner of the Stagionatura Montefiore company, a business which today has four factories, which he had built together with his children in the late 1970s. A factory, the first, which he personally designed and built, relying on his past as a building constructor, designed with a modern concept, cutting edge for those times.
The tragic accident occurred around 5.30pm. The man appears to have been along the Termina stream, near the Stombellini bridge, probably to observe the bank erosion caused by the force of the current, fearing that he might get close to the wall of his factory. Everything must have happened in a few moments: it is not known whether the man fell into the water due to a sudden wave or whether the earth beneath his feet gave way. The certainty is that his screams attracted the workers who were restoring the Casellina road, swallowed up by the torrent the previous night. They saw him clinging to a branch with his hands and legs. They immediately ran towards a vehicle, an excavator, thinking they could reach it with the mechanical arm. But it was a matter of moments and the man was carried away by the current. The witnesses could not do anything but alert the emergency services, who immediately set off. The firefighters combed the waters of the stream until unfortunately the most dramatic result was the discovery of the man’s lifeless body kilometers further downstream. A tragedy that left everyone speechless. The mayor Simone dell’Orto was shocked, as he followed the phases of the search step by step together with the police and was present when the body was found.
«An enterprising person – the mayor describes him -. I met him when I was a child and he was a builder. I lived in one of the houses he had built. Then he abandoned this path to build the first factory together with his children. A curious person, who always wanted to get busy, who worked his whole life. He didn’t deserve an end like that. We hoped to be able to end this difficult day for our territory without harming people, but unfortunately this was not the case. On behalf of myself and the administration I offer our condolences to the family for this dramatic loss.”
Maria Chiara Pezzani
