Nöbetçi Eczaneler
By Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell
A 29-year-old diver has died after being struck by the propeller of a boat while in the water off the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Cristiano Daniele Giamporcaro, a filmmaker from Caltanissetta in Sicily, was in the water between Punta Sottile and Cala Francese on Lampedusa’s southern coast on the afternoon of Saturday, 8 August when the incident occurred.
Giamporcaro was reportedly only a few dozen metres from shore and had marked his position with a surface marker buoy. Reports indicate that he was freediving without scuba equipment at the time.
His girlfriend had been swimming with him but returned to the beach shortly before the incident. She told investigators that Giamporcaro’s marker buoy was clearly visible and that she saw an inflatable dinghy (gommone, in the Italian reports) approaching at high speed from the shore.
Giamporcaro was struck by the boat’s propeller and suffered severe injuries to his arm. Initial reports suggest that he may have died as a result of blood loss after his arm was almost severed, although the precise cause of death has yet to be established.
A witness to the incident, who was sailing her own boat in the area at the time, said she had seen Giamporcaro’s girlfriend on the shore while he was still in the water.
‘I noticed the girl on land and him freediving for an hour,’ she told the Italian media. ‘At first, there were only the three of us in the bay, then I noticed her getting up to [look for him], and I saw a dinghy with two people retrieving the buoy.
‘At that point, the young woman jumped into the water. I realised something was wrong, so I took my boat and reached her, shouting to the fishermen who had arrived in the meantime to call for help.’
Giamporcaro’s body was recovered by the Italian Coast Guard and identified by his parents, who had travelled to Lampedusa, before being transferred to Porto Empedocle.
The vessel which struck him is reportedly owned by a couple from Milan who are known to be regular visitors to Lampedusa, and who were on board at the time of the incident.
The couple, believed to be in their 60s, have been interviewed by the Port Authority, with some reports suggesting the Carabinieri (Italian police) have seized the vessel and ordered them not to leave the island.
The Agrigento Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into suspected nautical homicide, and an autopsy has been ordered to determine whether Giamporcaro died from his injuries, blood loss or subsequent drowning.
Aldo di Piazza, a doctor at the island’s outpatient medical centre, said regulations required vessels to travel at very low speed within 200 metres of the shore.
‘Safety regulations require that boats travel at walking pace within 200 metres of the shore, without speeding while planing,’ he said.
Lampedusa mayor Filippo Mannino called for caution among visitors to the island following the incident.
‘Maximum caution must be exercised, both at sea and on land,’ he said. ‘Holidays must be conducted with safety in mind. Only in this way can people have fun and relax.’
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