Friuli, boys lost in the river. The 20-year-old’s cell phone was found

Friuli, missing boys. The 20-year-old’s cell phone was found

The mobile phone from which the SOS was sent to the emergency number 112 by the three boys overwhelmed by the flood of the Natisone river has been found: it belongs to Patrizia Cormos, the 20-year-old girl who is missing. The mobile phone was still kept inside the young woman’s bag. The cell phone was located in the late morning near the river bank, a short distance from the Roman bridge, thanks to the Life Seeker system which allows – with a device mounted on a drone – to hook up and identify the position of the telephone cells even with the device turned off.

Friuli, boys missing in the Natisone river. The hug before the flood. A phone signal was found

The searches resumeeven with helicopters, gods three missing boys, overwhelmed by the flood of the Natisone river. The firefighters also maintained a presence during the night in the base camp set up in Premariacco, continuing checks in the area immediately behind the Roman bridge. Since this morning, also thanks to better weather conditions, the drones of the Fvg Civil Protection have also been in action. Almost 20 hours after her disappearance, the chances of finding the missing still alive are almost zero, both for the speed of the water and for hypothermia. Experts are convinced that the river can ‘return’ the bodies of the boys because the Natisone has what has been defined as an extreme torrential character: sudden floods, like yesterday’s, are followed by an equally sudden “deflation”, with flow rates of water that suddenly becomes scarce.

The rescuers said they had intercepted the signal of one of the boys’ cell phones. For this reason, the searches will now focus on that specific area, even if it is not certain that, in a desperate attempt to escape the flood, the smartphone remained with its owner. However, it is a useful element for the benefit of the dozens of rescuers who are operating along the course of the stream, from the Roman bridge to the confluence with the Torre river, itself an emissary of the Isonzo.

They are in that area various depressions created by past floods. The small road that goes down to the river enters next to a small platform and, shortly after, continuing towards the bridge, the level drops significantly, and then rises again and finds itself on the hill. It was there, on a sort of hill, that the three boys had decided to stop, as described by some residents of Premariacco who know the area and the “tantrums” of the Natisone river well. Unfortunately, within a few minutes this basin filled with water and they would not have been able to cross it because they would have been dragged by the current which immediately became impetuous, explains another resident. For which instead, “rightly” the two girls and the young man called and waited for help.

“Unfortunately the level rose exceptionally in just a few minutes before the firefighters were able to prepare a system to hook them up.” The Natisone is a difficult river: a few dozen meters further downstream there is a point where the water, even in normal conditions, reaches 15 meters in depth and there are currents and eddies that drag along the bottom and get stuck between the boulders of the gorge. Therefore, “the three boys must have been unaware of the danger: only the residents know about the Natisone’s tantrums. Yesterday morning, when they went down to the riverbed to take photographs, there were no warnings of what would happen, the access was clear and the water, low and still calm, flowed only on the opposite side to where they were.”