It was supposed to be a day of celebration but it turned into tragedy .
Yesterday afternoon, near the Turin-Caselle airport, a Frecce Tricolori aircraft crashed into the ground and the explosion involved the car of a family who was passing by. A 5-year-old girl died , her 12-year-old brother, her father and mother ended up in hospital (the father was discharged today). The pilot of the plane, who saved himself by activating the ejection device shortly before impact, was also hospitalized. No one, we learn, is in serious condition.
It was just before 5pm. The patrol had just taken off in the direction of Vercelli, it was supposed to take part in an air show and was awaited by no less than four thousand spectators.
But the accident could have been double: on the same runway a similar tragedy was close to occurring when an aircraft, during landing, stuck its tip into the ground. The two pilots fortunately remained unharmed.
The Frecce plane fell in the municipality of San Francesco al Campo. A first hypothesis talks about the collision with a flock of birds. Pony 4 was speeding with four companions in a triangle formation of which it occupied the last place in the left "tail". The pilot at the control, Major Oscar Del Do', reportedly informed the team leader that he had an engine problem and had to disengage. The aircraft - as can be seen from the videos immediately circulated online - initially proceeds in a straight line, then suddenly becomes uncontrollable and loses altitude. Just before the nose points towards the ground, the major launches into the void. As the parachute opens, Pony 4 hits the ground, explodes and continues crawling at breakneck speed. At that moment, a car with a family was passing by on the road that runs along the perimeter of the airport, heading home to San Francesco al Campo. “I heard a big noise,” the father would later say. It is not yet clear whether there was contact with the plane. In any case, the car leaves the road, overturns and catches fire. The little girl, Laura Origliasso, dies. His 12-year-old brother suffered second-degree burns over about 15% of his body. They take him to the Regina Margherita children's hospital, where he arrives conscious. His mother is with him, but she is transferred to the CTO: her burns (12-13%) are concentrated on her right arm. The forty-nine-year-old father has burns on 4% of his body, mainly on the palm of his left hand; the prognosis for him is 20 days.
The Ivrea prosecutor's office has opened a case for disaster and manslaughter.
Technical advice on on-board instruments is important for the investigations, starting with the black box, where the conversations between the pilot, Major Oscar Del Do, discharged yesterday evening from the San Giovanni Bosco hospital, and the other members of the patrol are recorded.
(Unioneonline/ss)