They had gone out to spend the evening in Brivio, a town in the Brianza area of Lecco, bordering the province of Bergamo, where one of the area's most popular late-summer festivals was being held. Unfortunately, however, Milena Marangon and Giorgia Cagliani never made it to the party.
They had just parked near the local gym when they were hit and killed on the road to Airuno by a van driven by a 34-year-old Polish man, who was arrested for vehicular homicide after testing positive for drugs. He hit them from behind, and there was nothing that could be done for the two girls, both 21.
Both lived in Paderno d'Adda, a town in the province of Lecco, about ten kilometers from the scene of the tragedy. The tragedy occurred at 10:00 PM on a Saturday evening the two young women had planned to spend among hundreds of revelers along the Adda River. Their friend, Chiara, a 20-year-old resident of Robbiate, another town in the Brianza area of Lecco, miraculously survived. She was just a few meters away from them and was not involved in the accident.
Milena and Giorgia were close friends and had been members of the youth council that organizes activities in their town. Within hours, their social media profiles were flooded with messages of all kinds expressing support and condolences for a tragedy that unfolded in just a few moments.
The air ambulance was also sent to the scene of the accident as a matter of urgency, along with two ambulances, but there was no time left for intervention.
Immediately after the accident, the van driver was tested to determine whether he had been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The former was negative, while the drug test was positive. The man was thus arrested for vehicular homicide.
According to an initial reconstruction of the incident, the girls were walking on the side of the road, in a possibly poorly lit area. The van, entering the road from a nearby intersection, widened its trajectory, apparently to avoid another vehicle that may have crossed into its lane due to the many cars parked on the shoulder for the party. It ended up hitting the group of friends who were walking toward the nearby town center, with their backs to the traffic. Federico Airoldi, the mayor of Brivio, has declared two days of mourning.
