THE firefighters have identified the lifeless bodies of two of the three missing in the waters of the Natisone river: they are the two girls while they are still looking for the 25-year-old who was with them. The bodies were identified by the fire brigade and civil protection teams engaged in search activities for the third day in a row.
The two victims are Patrizia and Bianca, overwhelmed by the flood of the river on Friday with their friend Cristian. The two bodies were approximately 700 and 1000 meters from the point of the last sighting, along the banks of the Natisone, one 700 meters from the riverbed and the other a little further away, about a kilometre. Not far from the Roman bridge, from where they had been sighted for the last time and from where the firefighters had vainly lowered some ropes so that the boys, dragged by the current of the swollen Natisone, could grab hold of each other.
The search for the third missing person continues. Rescuers, especially divers, and experts who have also come from outside the region, continue to scan the waterway in search of the young people. 40 firefighters were employed, including divers, surveyors, river and cave rescuers and ordinary teams.
Thanks to the rescuers from the mayor of Premariacco
A special thanks to all those involved in the research was addressed by the mayor of Premariacco, Michele De Sabata: “A special thank you to all my colleagues and citizens/alpine troops/civic volunteers who divided the tasks of being close to the parents and to help all the rescuers, yet another demonstration that we are an excellent community. We are preparing a refreshment area for all the rescuers at the sports field where they can stop in turns because no one wants to give up. A tragedy”“he wrote in a post.
Condolences and closeness also expressed by Mrgovernor of Friuli Venezia Giulia Massimiliano Fedriga.
The Fvg Region expresses “the deepest condolences and the most heartfelt closeness to the families in the tragedy that struck them, a dramatic moment in which the entire regional community is united in thought”, said Fedriga upon hearing the news of the discovery of the bodies of the two girls, Patrizia Cormos and Bianca Doros, by a team of the Fire Brigade and a mixed team of Civil Protection volunteers from Premariacco, Talmassons and Medea.
The searches also continue for Cristian Casiar Molnar. Fedriga and the councilor for Civil Protection Riccardo Riccardi express “thanks to the Fire Brigade, Civil Protection volunteers and to anyone who was involved in the research”.
Death in a few moments
It is presumable, as some experts also maintain, that the death of the two girls occurred a few moments after they passed under the bridge, when they effectively disappeared from sight. Dragged by the impetuous force of the waters, the bodies, perhaps already lifeless due to the very low temperature of the water, ended up in a ravine or entangled in the vegetation. Today, with the water level much lower, practically back to normal, the bodies have surfaced. The victims’ families were immediately notified.
Shortly after 2pm on Friday 31 May a phone call to the emergency number triggered the emergency research. A passerby spotted the boys and raised the alarm. Several people stopped on the bridge and helplessly watched the dramatic scene in which the three, overcome by the current, let themselves go in an attempt to hook the rope extended by the firefighters, but they missed the hold. In the area where the three boys were hit there is the absolute ban on bathing because there is a danger of drowning. Signs are posted throughout the area. The main risks are linked precisely to sudden floods of the river and to the fact that, just after the Roman bridge, the watercourse crosses very treacherous gorges in which the speed of the current suddenly surges.
The firefighters: “They slipped away”
Three young people hugging each other, half immersed in the river water. An image that struck everyone who saw it. A hug, the last attempt to cling to life and resist the flood. It was the fireman who was on the bridge about 20 meters above the ground who shouted: “Stay together, gather together, hug each other!”. But there was nothing that could be done. The water took them away. The fire helicopter arrived a minute and a half later. The Udine prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.
The three missing boys
The group consisted of three young people, a boy and two girls between 20 and 25 years old. They had decided to take a walk in the riverbed, to seek some relaxation after one of the girls had taken an exam at the Academy of Fine Arts.
The relatives of one of the missing confided this, Patrizia Cormos, 20 years old, resident in Basaldella di Campoformido (Udine), who yesterday morning had, in fact, participated in a difficult test session in 3D modeling. So, she had accepted her friend’s invitation Bianca Doros, 23 years old, in Italy for a few days to visit her family, to take a car ride together with her boyfriend, a 25-year-old young man. It’s about Cristian Casian Molnar. The young man is resident in Romania and had arrived in Italy a few days ago, after a stay in Austria, at his brother’s house. For this reason, investigators initially thought he also resided in that country.
When they arrived at the “beach” of Premariacco, the sky was incredibly clear after many hours of rain and access to the riverbed was easy and completely dry, as was the path that leads to the hill that rises in the center of the stream bed.
Their car with Romanian license plate was found parked in Premariacco. The search was activated immediately, but when the firefighters arrived on site with a helicopter, they did not spot anyone: the water level of the Natisone rose in a few minutes and the three boys were dragged away by the current.
The young people, who did not suspect the danger, were surprised and, while the water gradually reached their ankles and then their knees and continued to rise, they hugged each other, perhaps in this way trying to constitute a stronger defense against the violence of the waters.
But the current got stronger and stronger and the embrace didn’t hold: having ended up in the Natisone, the three boys were dragged in various directions.
At the same time the firefighters had placed a mobile crane from the top of a bridge, a few tens of meters above sea level. From this a ladder was extended above the Natisone, and some policemen threw ropes which the boys could hold on to. The current dragged the three and none of them managed to hold on to the rope. The research therefore moved in the direction of the current.
“Mom, just one ride, let me go”
Patrizia is a second year student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Udine. On the day of the river trip she had taken an exam. After her, she had accepted Bianca’s invitation for a car ride and a walk along the Natisone. There were a lot of things to celebrate actually. The test just passed by Patrizia; the family reunion of Bianca, who studies Economics in Bucharest, and who had been visiting her parents who live in Udine for three days; her reunion with Cristian, her boyfriend, who after a stopover in Austria with her brother, had rushed to Friuli-Venezia Giulia to embrace her. Shortly before leaving for the trip, Patrizia had convinced her mother to let her go free. “I suggested that she not go because she was tired,” her mother said in tears. But she said “let’s just hang out for a bit and take some photos. Come on mom, let’s go.”
The water flow of the river
The Natisone river takes about twenty minutes to reach the site of the tragedy. At 11.30 the water flow rate was still only 20 cubic meters per second, within a very wide bed. At 1pm, that is when the boys were already on the riverbed, the flow rate suddenly became 135 cubic meters per second. At 1.35pm the boys were hit by the flood and raised the alarm at the same time as numerous passers-by. At 3pm the Natisone’s capacity had reached 250 cubic metres, and the desperate – and dangerous – searches of the firefighters with boats and the diving group were already underway.
