It was supposed to be a night of celebration, the night most awaited by the Venetians, the night that went down in history as the Most Famous Night, but yesterday the night of the Redentore turned into a tragedy.
At the end of the famous fireworks display, among the more than 4,000 boats leaving the San Marco dock where they had watched the fireworks from the water, a boat hit a mooring with a child on board, ricardo nardinand two friends.
According to the first reconstructions, the young man who was driving would have fallen into the water and would never have come out again. It appears that an abnormal wave, perhaps caused by the traffic of many moving ships, has destabilized the ship. Firefighters recovered the lifeless body in no time.
Riccardo Nardin, 28, was returning home to Cavallino Treporti, a coastal town not far from Venice. The other 2 people, two girls, unharmed, asked for help at 1:25 a.m., who arrived immediately because the teams were prepared to monitor the Redeemer.
Firefighters and local police immediately went to the stretch of channel between the islands of San Giorgio and the island of San Servolo, but although divers found the young man soon after, there was no longer any chance of saving him.
Nardin had studied at the Nautical Institute in Venice and worked for the boat excursion company “Il Doge di Venezia” for tourists.
The investigations are in charge of the local police of Venice because the accident occurred at a point of the water channel under the jurisdiction of the Municipality. It will be necessary to determine the causes of the accident and understand if there is a correlation with water traffic or if it was a fatality. The place of the tragedy was precisely in a secondary channel with respect to the central one crossed by the thousands of boats that returned after the fireworks show.
In fact, it is estimated that in Venice last night, for the traditional Festa del Redentore, which is still celebrated today in memory of the liberation from the plague of 1575, there were one hundred thousand people, the majority, according to tradition, in the shores and 30 thousand instead who admired the fireworks from more than 4,000 boats present.
An increase compared to the previous year, when there were 3,700 boats. Yesterday the movement of the waves, caused by the traffic of water, was very evident, so much so that in the Dársena de San Marcos the waves appeared high. However, the reconstruction of the accident dynamics is still ongoing and for now there are only hypotheses that have not yet been verified.
“I want to express the condolences of the city of Venice and myself for the death of Riccardo in a tragic nautical accident whose causes are still being investigated by investigators,” said the mayor of Venice this morning. luis brugnaro. “We all hold on to his family and his dearest loved ones. Unfortunately it is another young life suddenly interrupted”.
“It had been a festive day”, continued the mayor of the seaside city, “with the fireworks display that had illuminated the ‘famous night’. This sad news came during the exodus phase, which was continuing regularly. I thank the firefighters, the police forces, the doctors and all those who immediately intervened to search and rescue the other crew members of the boat. Unfortunately for Riccardo, they couldn’t do anything. In his memory, as a Municipality, we have decided that before the Redentore Regattas, which will take place in the afternoon on the Giudecca canal, we will observe a minute of silence.”
