The desperate appeals that have been going on for two days on social media and the searches that have engaged many people relentlessly have been of no avail. The lifeless body of Gjon Toma was found shortly before five yesterday afternoon in the countryside of Candeglia crossed by the stretch of the Bure di Baggio torrent, near via Carota e Molina. An impervious area where the man, suffering from Alzheimer’s, had ventured along the path that led him to the riverbed and then, probably, fell down the slope and ended up in the water. Gjon Toma, originally from Albania, where he was born 65 years ago, in Scutari, lived with his family in Fornaci, in via Giorgio La Pira. On Sunday morning he had left home early, around eight thirty, to go for a walk. Step by step he reached Candeglia and entered the path that led him to the torrent. At home they did not see him return from his usual walk and his son Renato raised the alarm on social media with a photo of his father and a description of his clothing, also warning of his condition as a person suffering from Alzheimer’s, which could generate a state of confusion in him.
The search began at ten o’clock on Sunday evening and concentrated in the Candeglia area precisely on the basis of the indications provided by the son, immediately engaging the Fire Brigade with the Advanced Command Post, the helicopter and Sapr units, with drones, together with the Red Cross dog handlers, and the Alpine Rescue teams of the Guardia di Finanza and the Sast (Tuscan Alpine and Speleological Rescue), the Vab of Pistoia, the Misericordia of Pistoia and Candeglia and the Civil Protection of the Municipality of Pistoia. The State Police was always present on site.
It was the Fire Brigade’s River Squad that spotted the man’s body lying in the water yesterday afternoon. He was immediately brought to shore, but every attempt at rescue was immediately proved useless. An examination did not reveal any signs of violence on the body. The man may have accidentally fallen into the stream, perhaps the victim of a sudden illness that could have led to death by drowning. To shed light on this tragedy, the magistrate on duty ordered an external examination of the body, transported to the morgue by the deceased service of the Misericordia of Pistoia.
