ROME -- Firefighters in Permariacco discovered the body of Cristian Molnar after a prolonged search, following his disappearance in a flash flood with two friends at the end of May.

  The bodies of the two women, Patrizia Cormos, 20, and Bianca Doros, 23, were discovered shortly after the flood, but Molnar's body remained missing for several weeks. Firefighters reported finding Molnar's body in a small pool of water, not far from where the bodies of Cormos and Doros were discovered, as the water levels had recently dropped.

  “We note the sad news of the discovery of poor Cristian’s body, after so many days,” Said Gaetano Laghi, the Molnar family’s lawyer, “This is a time of sorrow. The family can finally have a body to mourn over and, closed in their own grief, do not intend to make a statement.” 

  “No comment except to thank the Italian authorities, who, in recent days, tirelessly never stopped searching for Cristian and who, after so much effort, succeeded in this very difficult undertaking.” Laghi concluded. 

  Michele De Sabata, the mayor of Premariacco, when speaking to reporters noted the challenging conditions of the search. “Cristian Molnar’s body was underwater, in an area that had been searched several times in recent weeks. It is almost impossible to enter these places, in these gorges, when the water has certain courses. He was under an enormous rock, inside a tunnel covered by timber: finally, these extraordinary firemen managed to notice something underwater, where he has always been until today.” 

  The three friends had originally entered the river at the end of May to take some pictures. Due to heavy rainfall in the days before, the water levels of the Natisone river trapping the three young people who were locked in an embrace in their final moments before being swept away.

  There are now plans to commemorate the trio’s lives with a statue of their final moment. “I have finished discussions with the Romanian community in our municipality, which supports me in this project," Mayor De Sabata continued.

  "I'm not interested in making tombstones for the fallen, but I would like the sense of that embrace between the three young people to reach anyone who passes through here, an extraordinary sign that takes away the heart, the last gift they give us before disappearing in the waves. I want to crystallise that embrace”

lw