"We cry for him every day. His passing is a pain we will have to deal with for the rest of our lives. All we ask for is the truth. We want to know how Michele died."
The final stretch of the Strada statale 195 bis he was working on was inaugurated a few weeks ago. His colleagues placed a bouquet of flowers at the spot where the accident that cost him his life occurred. But a year after that fateful July 30th, Michele Fuedda's relatives are still waiting for clarity on what happened that morning.
Lalla Pisu and Barbara Fuedda, mother and sister of the 39-year-old worker from Pula who worked for Cosmont, are still awaiting the results of the autopsy conducted by coroner Roberto Demontis, twelve months later. This autopsy could clarify once and for all what happened on that viaduct under construction. The first news they learned that morning from online newspapers reported a 39-year-old man from Pula injured after a six and a half meter fall. They then desperately rushed to Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari for information, and then the sad truth: remembering that day is a pang of pain for Michele's mother and sister, and they continue to experience it every day.
"There are too many things that don't add up in this story," say Lalla Pisu and Barbara Fuedda, assisted in their search for the truth by lawyer Edoardo Vassallo . "According to the official Spresal version, which didn't even convince prosecutor Giangiacomo Pilia, Michele fell from the viaduct because his harness wasn't hooked into the wire. We never believed this version. According to his employer, he was a worker who was very safety-conscious; he was the one who reminded his colleagues to respect all PPE. He was so scrupulous that he preferred to buy his own helmet, gloves, goggles, and all the protective equipment because he wanted the best equipment."
There are also doubts about Michele's injuries, which the two women say are inconsistent with a fall from that height, but—most importantly—with the position his body was in when rescuers arrived: "Michele suffered a crushed chest, a broken spine, and damage to the cerebellum," they reveal, "but not a scratch or bruise on his arm or shoulder, which is very strange considering he was found lying on his back. No one heard or saw anything, yet a colleague was working next to him: is it possible that as he fell, he didn't scream or make a noise while trying to hold on?"
Michele Fuedda was buried on August 4th, but his mother and sister did not attend the funeral; it was impossible to bear that extreme ordeal after five days of intense grief. "We were at home, sedated," Lalla Pisu and Barbara Fuedda recount. "Going to the funeral would have been too much for us. Michele's death devastated us. He was the perfect son and brother, he had a huge heart. The three of us had always faced everything and made up for the absence of a father. This year we have felt alone; Cosmont has been very close to us, Aleandri sent a telegram after Michele's death, but Anas didn't even do that. It's impossible to process this grief; we can't accept what happened. Knowing the truth would help us move forward: we want to know what happened to our Michele that day."
