Catanzaro Fire, Two Victims Tried to Escape from Balcony

ICatanzaro fire, two victims tried to escape from balcony. Firefighters found bodies in nearby room, perhaps blocked by smoke

Two of the three boys killed in the fire that broke out in their apartment on the fifth floor of a building on Via Caduti 16 March 1978, in the southern area of ​​Catanzaro, attempted to save themselves by reaching the balcony of their home.

Their bodies were found by firefighters in a room near the one where the balcony is located. Probably - this is the rescuers' hypothesis - the smoke could have made them lose consciousness, preventing them from reaching safety. The third victim, however, was found in the bathroom.

From the same balcony that the brothers were trying to reach, their parents, little sister and another brother were saved. The firefighters brought them to the ground thanks to the ladder trucks. The pneumatic rescue sheet was also mounted on site in case someone threw themselves into the void.

“What a tragedy, what a tragedy.” The eyes of the lady in slippers and a jacket as she approaches the courtyard of the building in Catanzaro where the tragedy occurred last night, killing three boys aged 12, 14 and 22. Inside the building, the door of the Corasiniti-Mazzei family’s apartment is blackened by smoke and the nearby homes have been evacuated even though, apparently, there are no stability problems for the building.

“To die like this – adds the woman as she walks away – in the most atrocious way. I can't think about it." On the second floor of the building, one of the tenants says she didn't notice anything and only left her home when the firefighters arrived and knocked on the door.

“I don't know them - He says - they have been here for a short while". Another lady who lives nearby talks about the couple's children. “I didn't even know them - He says - I only know that they had a boy with health problems”. The father of the victims is a street vendor of clothing in the city's local markets together with his parent. The mother, who is 42 years old, is a housewife.

“A huge tragedy that has shocked our community and terrified us with its cruelty. We are reliving the pain we felt more than twenty years ago at Giare, with three young lives cut short by an episode that needs to be shed in the right light.

It could have been a massacre. I followed the rescue operations of the wounded last night and I felt a shiver and a wave of indignation for the conditions of our neighborhoods in the southern area. I do not want, in a moment of such intense pain, to make evaluations, but I believe that what happened should make everyone reflect.

The city is overwhelmed by the suffering caused by this tragedy and I believe it is our duty to proclaim a day of mourning in conjunction with the funerals of the victims.". This is what the mayor of Catanzaro, Nicola Fiorita, says.