Tragedy struck on Tuesday afternoon at the Brusia waterfall, in the municipality of Portico e San Benedetto in the Forlì Apennines. A 35-year-old man from Rimini lost his life after getting into difficulty in the river waters, where he had gone to spend a few hours with his girlfriend.
The alarm was raised at around 2:45 pm. Rescue teams mobilized within minutes, with firefighters from Rocca San Casciano, water and river rescue specialists from Forlì, and divers all responding, the latter flown to the scene by the 115 emergency helicopter that had taken off from Bologna.
The search proved far from straightforward. The water was particularly murky due to recent rainfall, severely limiting visibility. After roughly half an hour, divers managed to locate the 35-year-old, who was in a stretch of water several metres deep, and bring him to the surface.
Waiting on the riverbank were paramedics from the 118 emergency medical service, who had arrived with an ambulance, a medical car and a rescue helicopter. Every effort to save him proved futile, however: the man had already died.
What triggered the tragedy remains unclear. Investigators are considering several possibilities, including a sudden medical episode or an accident that occurred while the man was in the water. Further inquiries will now seek to reconstruct the final moments before the drowning and establish the exact sequence of events.
