The four boys found dead in a car half sunk on the banks of the Trebbia river, not far from where it flows into the Po, in the Piacentino, died in a car accident.
The four 20-year-olds - Domenico Di Canio, 22, William Pagani, 23, Elisa Bricchi, 20 and Costantino Merli, 23, all residing in the western part of the province of Piacenza, except Merli who was from Lodigiano - were returning from a evening to celebrate the birthday of one of them, William Pagani, when the car, for reasons to be ascertained, ended up off the road and into the water. In the fall from the shore, the Golf overturned, and the four found themselves suddenly trapped, in the dark, in the freezing water.
The parents, failing to contact them, alarmed the carabinieri: the tragic discovery, however, came only after several hours when, yesterday morning, a fisherman passing by on the embankment saw the car emerging from the river and called for help.
THE RECONSTRUCTION - According to what has been reconstructed so far by the carabinieri of the Piacenza Company, the four first met in a village bar in San Nicolò and then concluded the evening in another club on the outskirts of Piacenza. On the way back, however, they decided to detour and reach the Trebbia embankment, passing along an isolated country road that ends at the river bank.
Probably in addition to being dark there was also fog, and the driver (he is investigating to understand who was actually driving) did not notice the ditch at the beginning of the riverbed. The car jumped a couple of meters or so, and ended up upside down in the water. The Golf was then found with the front fully submerged, and the rear sticking out.
The military will now have to clarify how it is possible that of the four on board no one was able to get out of the cockpit of the car immersed in just over a meter of water.
Meanwhile, the pain of a community remains: "This is the greatest tragedy that has hit our territory", said Filippo Zangrandi, mayor of Calendasco, a small town on the outskirts of Piacenza.
