Bartender struck by lightning dies on holiday

 ROME  – Maren Zampilli, a Roman bartender, who works as a personal trainer, was struck by lightning on his BMW motorcycle, while on holiday in Puglia, writes Il Messaggero. “It's an absurd death,” say his close friends. This death is one of many with over a million lightning strikes in Italy every year, which kill an average of 20 people.  His trip ended tragically on Monday on state highway 275, near the Nociglia turnoff. Shortly after 12:30 a lightning bolt struck him. Struck by the violent electrical discharge, the 41-year-old was thrown from his motorcycle and landed in the field along the road. A terrible scene unfolded before two witnesses who had been driving along the highway and immediately called for help.

 When the 118 emergency services arrived, however, there was nothing that could be done and he was confirmed dead. The Carabinieri were also on the scene and, after conducting investigations and interviewing witnesses, informed the Prosecutor's Office. There are no people under investigation, the officers in charge of the case reiterate. From the very beginning, the dynamics of the accident were clear: Zampilli was electrocuted. The pouring rain and adverse weather conditions confirm that his death linked to the severe weather that affected Salento at that time.

 His shocked the entire community of Nociglia, because by some tragic twist of fate, the accident that killed Zampilli also killed two other people, a man and a woman 60 years ago as recalled by the mayor of Nociglia, Vincenzo Vadruci.

 But similar accidents occurred just hours before the motorcyclist's death. This time in Abruzzo, where on Sunday afternoon in Riggio, a 15-year-old boy was struck by lightning while spending a day in the mountains with his father. The two were near Monte di Mezzo (an area on the border between the provinces of Teramo and L'Aquila) when, shortly after 5:30 p.m., the weather suddenly changed and they were caught in a violent storm.

 The boy's father alerted emergency services, and he was immediately taken to the San Salvatore Hospital in L'Aquila. However, given his condition, doctors decided to transfer him to the Bambino Gesù Hospital yesterday morning, where he is now in a medically induced coma.

 A similar but less unfortunate situation occurred for the group of tourists who had organized a picnic in Pescasseroli, in the province of L'Aquila, on August 15th. The group was in the garden of the residence where they were staying when they were hit by the shock wave of lightning that struck a tree. Some were injured by splinters from the trunk, but all escaped unharmed, albeit astonished to have survived.

rs