RIYADH - Three Italian dancers, who were on a performance tour of Saudi Arabia, have died after a car they were travelling in crashed into a ravine and overturned, crushing them to death, along with the unnamed fourth victim, Saudi Arabian police said. Three other Italians were also involved in the crash - one is in serious condition and the other two are unharmed.

 The three dancers - Antonio Caggianelli, 33, from Bisceglie, Nicolas Esposto, 28, from Agrigento and Giampiero Giarri, 32, from Tivoli - had decided to go on an excursion on their day off. The reason for the crash is still unknown. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted the families to travel to Riyadh to identify them.

 Caggianelli had performed at this year’s Notte della Taranta, a famous music festival in Salento. "The death of our young fellow citizen pains and saddens us deeply", wrote Angelantonio Angarano, the mayor of the dancer’s hometown. "At that age you have so many projects, ideas, enthusiasm, you work to build your future and pursue your dreams - which is what Antonio did, with vitality and resourcefulness, making himself appreciated and loved.” 

 To commemorate Nicolas Esposta, Michele Martorana from the parish of San Giovanni Gemini, wrote that he was "deeply saddened by the death of the dear young man he saw growing within its walls. May God console his family and have him in glory in the joy of the angels and saints.”

 The mayor of Ardea Mario Savarese in Tivoli commented that Giampiero Giarri “was an accomplished dancer, born in Tivoli in 1989. [...] On behalf of the whole administration, I extend our deepest condolences to his mother, Michela.”

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