The rescuers did the impossible, resuscitation on the spot, then the desperate race to the hospital, but there was nothing they could do. The cut was too deep and had torn the artery just behind the knee. Too much blood lost, in too little time. Marco Salvagno, just 21 years oldi, died in the arms of the doctors who were struggling to keep him alive.
The tragedy occurred yesterday afternoon, Friday 28 June, just before four o’clock: Salvagno, an employee of Bosco Bielo Ivano Srl, the lagoon giant of building supplies, injured his leg in the company premises between Piazzale Roma and Santa Marta, the construction site-depot that occupies a large part of the Rio della Scomenzera bank.
Football, friends: who was Marco, the young worker who bled to death on the Venice construction site
Camilla Gargioni and Daniele Zennaro
June 29, 2024
The very young worker would have hit a glass door inside one of the company’s warehouses, perhaps with a kick: his leg destroyed the glass, passing through it, and one of the fragments cut his popliteal artery, the one behind the knee, one of the most important in the lower limbs, after the femoral. The boy collapsed to the ground, losing a lot of blood, his colleagues helped him almost immediately and immediately alerted 118.
The hydroambulance and the carabinieri boats crossed the Scomenzera stream at 4 pm with sirens blaring, then they stopped between the green barges, docking right on the bank of the company’s shipyard – warehouse. Behind them, in close succession, also the Spisal team.
The rescue and the rush to the hospital
The Suem medics stopped the bleeding and then insisted as much as possible with resuscitation maneuvers before loading him on board their boat and quickly heading towards the Civil hospital; for a situation of this type, in fact, the emergency protocol bypasses any healthcare hierarchy: the objective is to proceed with a transfusion in the shortest possible time, therefore from the nearest hospital point. Unfortunately, however, nothing was enough: Salvagno had already lost too much blood in that warehouse, he died shortly after being admitted, despite the efforts of the Venetian doctors.
While the water ambulance sped towards the Fondamente Nove in the Rio della Scomenzera construction site, an oppressive climate reigned: the managers and the workers moved in silent respect for the injury of the very young colleague from Chioggia: no one dared to say a word or comment on what had happened ; looking at the ground, everyone was trying to carry on with the day’s activities, in truth concentrated only on waiting for news from the hospital. Those who left their shift headed home, dodging the gazes of those outside and trying to decipher what had happened, attracted by the flashing lights of the police. The carabinieri, engaged in reconstructing the accident, had however created a protective cordon to avoid the intrusion of onlookers. Around 6pm, the emergency services had already left the construction site and completed the emergency protocol.
In the same two hours Spisal technicians moved alongside the militarybusy trying to figure out whether filling out the file would ultimately be their responsibility or only the men of the force: if the 21-year-old really kicked a door, the case cannot be classified as an accident at work, but as a tragedy in the workplace, therefore not a matter for the inspectors of the Service; it is however possible that things went differently, that the young man stumbled or tried to move some material with his legs while he was moving to carry out some task assigned to him by the company.
The unions: «Yet another tragedy at work»
Hypotheses that the unions were questioning: «We are once again shocked by yet another tragedy at work», commented the secretary of the Cisl, Michele Zanocco, and that of Filca, Andrea Grazioso, «It is unacceptable to lose one’s life in this way. While waiting to know the dynamics, our commitment to prevention and safety at work remains strong and determined so that constant attention from everyone prevails»
