Tragedy came close to occurring in Pistoia during a wedding reception at the former Giaccherino Convent: around 8.30pm yesterday, while the guests were dancing, the floor of an attic collapsed. Firefighters and ambulances immediately rushed to the scene of the disaster, with around a hundred rescuers. And the number of injured is high: at least 64, five of whom have been hospitalized under code red even if their lives are not in danger. As many would be code yellow. The injured were distributed to the hospitals of Pistoia Prato, Empoli and Pescia, while others were transported to the Versilia hospital in Lido di Camaiore (Lucca).
Dozens of Mercy, Public Assistance and Red Cross ambulances arrived and continued to take the injured to hospitals before returning to the convent, which for some years had been transformed into a restaurant for receptions.
The mayor of Pistoia Alessandro Tomasi also arrived on site: “All the hospitals have been alerted in order to manage as many patients as possible – said the mayor – and structural checks are underway by the firefighters”.
Some of the guests had already left the party, while others, especially the younger ones, had stopped to dance when the floor collapsed under their feet: according to what witnesses reported, at a certain point a chasm opened up and swallowed up the dozens of guests at the reception who found themselves on the ground floor, covered in debris, after a five-metre flight.
“About 50-60 people would be involved, but at the moment there would be no deaths”, reassured the Civil Protection councilor Alessio Bartolomei in the evening. While the president of the Tuscany region Eugenio Giani then wrote a message of encouragement on social media: «All hospitals have been alerted for timely aid and assistance in order to manage as many patients as possible. Beyond Pistoia, Prato, Lucca, Careggi and Cisanello, come on! Our regional health system is intervening,” the governor added.
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