He died from suffocation by the drawstring of his sweatshirt while playing on the lawn of his nursery. Two-year-old Leonardo Ricci attended the Ambarabà Ciccì Coccò nursery in Soci, a hamlet of Bibbiena (Arezzo), in the heart of the Casentino region. The tragedy occurred in the garden of the municipal nursery, during an outdoor playtime. According to initial reconstructions, the child was running when the drawstring of his sweatshirt got caught on a branch, squeezing his neck. A terrifying event , made even more tragic by the fragility of such a young child. The teachers immediately realized what was happening: they attempted to free him and immediately began CPR, while emergency services were called.
An ambulance and the Pegaso air ambulance arrived on the scene for emergency transport to the hospital. For over an hour, paramedics desperately tried to save his life, but all efforts were in vain. Meanwhile, his parents, Alessandro and Caterina, a young and well-known couple in the village, were located. Alerted while at work, they reached the nursery school within minutes, only to discover that Leonardo had died. They collapsed in utter despair. That evening, flowers, stuffed animals, and messages of condolence appeared in front of the school. " You can't die like this, at just two years old ," said a distraught and tearful relative. The teacher who first helped the child became severely ill, suffering an anxiety attack, so much so that she was hospitalized and placed on oxygen therapy. Carabinieri from the Bibbiena branch have cordoned off the accident area and begun an investigation. The Prosecutor's Office has opened a case of manslaughter, coordinated by Prosecutor Julia Maggiore, who conducted an on-site inspection. There are currently no suspects, and the nursery garden has been seized.
The Koinè cooperative, which manages the facility, released a statement: "The loss of a child is not one of the many sorrows that life holds in store for us. It is absolute pain, devoid of consolation and healing. We have no words that can soothe the pain of the parents and family. Our staff, shocked and distraught, have made themselves available to investigators to provide any useful information. Now we can only say that the parents and family are in our hearts." The autopsy, which will be scheduled in the next few hours, will clarify the exact cause of death. Investigations are continuing to determine any possible culpability in the accident, which appears—according to initial reports—to have been an extremely rare and difficult to predict event.
(Unioneonline)