A worker from Bergamo – Claudio Togni, 59 years old, from Paladina – fell on the morning of Friday 28 June in the Adda river while he was working above the Italgen dam, in the Concesa area of Trezzo sull’Addanear the A4 overpass. The alarm was raised shortly before 9am by colleagues.
The firefighters of the capital’s command immediately mobilized for the rescue. The search was initially carried out using a helicopter and then continued with the dinghies and drones (Nucleo Sapr – Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems). On site the Gorgonzola Detachment and the Milan diving unit supported by the Saf fluvial unit of the Bergamo Command. The volunteer divers of Treviglio also took to the field.
Worker falls into the Adda: firefighters search. Video of firefighters
Strong currents have complicated rescue operationsThe searches, in alternating phases, continued until approximately 6:00 p.m. and were then suspended. They will resume Saturday morning at first light in the hope that they will not be disturbed by the forecasted storms.
«This morning Claudio Togni, an esteemed and expert colleague who has worked in Italgen for 34 years, slipped and fell into the water during the closing procedure of a dam near Concesa, an intake structure that feeds the power plant hydroelectric plant of Vaprio d’Adda”. Thus begins the official note that Italgen wanted to spread about what happened in the Concesa di Trezzo area on a dam owned by it. The company then goes into the merits of the accident still being reconstructed by the competent authorities: «The two colleagues who were with him immediately tried to help him, and then promptly raised the alarm, activating the rescue. Firefighters, with the Gorgonzola detachment and the Milan diving unit, supported by the Saf fluvial unit of the Bergamo Command are coordinating the searches, still underway». The note ends with a thought for Togni and the company’s willingness to do everything to ensure that what happened is reconstructed clearly: «All of us at Italgen are shocked and deeply affected by what happened and we are collaborating with the authorities to clarify the dynamics of this very serious accident».
According to Filca Cisl and Fillea Cgil, colleagues and trade unionists are still in shock. «It is a tragedy that we struggle to explain – they say Massimo Lamera and Luciana Fratus, for Filca Cisl and Fillea Cgil –. The dynamics are still unclear, but in these moments we prefer not to lose even the residual hopes that the story leaves us. What happened is a disgrace that affects the world of work in Bergamo, just as it is daily affecting all the territories of the country, in a trail that seems to never end». The thoughts of the unionists then go to the family of the fifty-nine-year-old from Paladina: «We leave the search for responsibilities and subsequent reflections to the next few days. Today we prefer to gather around the family in a cord of affection that we hope will help them overcome such a difficult moment».
«A serious accident at work still affects the world of work in Bergamo» he says Danilo Mazzola, secretary of CISL Bergamo. The latter also then expressed words of closeness to the family members of the worker who disappeared in the Adda: «The entire Orobic structure – concludes Mazzola – is close to the family members in this dramatic moment and remembers the dedication and great professionalism of Claudio, our historian enrolled at the Italgen of Villa di Serio”.
Learn more about the topic on the digital copy of L’Eco di Bergamo on 29 June
