Naples – Pasquale Fiore Iliceto, a 53-year-old man from Lucera, in the province of Foggia, died after falling from a height of approximately two metres while working on the fitting out of a shop in the Vulcano Buono shopping centre.
The news of his death, which occurred this morning at the Ospedale del Mare in Naples after seven days of battling his injuries, has cast a shadow of mourning over the local community and the Campanian workforce. The accident occurred on Monday, October 7, around 11 a.m., in the premises of a well-known clothing brand's store within the shopping mall, one of the busiest in Southern Italy, with over 200 stores and thousands of visitors daily.
Fiore Iliceto, an employee of a company specializing in building assembly and renovation, was installing shelving when, for reasons yet to be determined, he lost his balance and suffered a severe head injury and multiple polytraumas. Immediately rescued by colleagues and the Nola firefighters, the worker was rushed to the Naples hospital, where doctors struggled in vain to stabilize his condition.
"A life shattered at work, in a routine moment that turned tragic," the family commented in a statement released through the CGIL union, which has followed the case from the very beginning.
Pasquale, a father of two with extensive experience in the construction industry, leaves an irreplaceable void in his family and colleagues, who remember him as a dedicated and reliable man.
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The Nola Public Prosecutor's Office has opened a case of aggravated negligent injury resulting from the failure to take accident prevention precautions and has ordered an autopsy on the victim's body, which will be performed in the coming days to clarify the exact circumstances of the fall.
The client and employer companies have already been seized of the construction site, with experts assigned to verify the condition of the scaffolding and the application of safety regulations.
This latest fatal accident rekindles the spotlight on the scourge of workplace accidents in Campania, a region that recorded over 150 workplace deaths in 2024, according to INAIL data, a 12% increase over the previous year. Vulcano Buono, built in 2008 as a luxury and shopping hub at the foot of Vesuvius, is no stranger to incidents of this kind: in 2019, another worker was injured on a similar construction site, raising questions about training and protective equipment.
Unions, from CGIL to CISL, have announced a day of work stoppages at local construction sites for Thursday, with a demonstration in front of the shopping center to demand stricter controls.
The funeral chapel will be open tomorrow at the Ospedale del Mare, pending the funeral, which will be held in Lucera at the Church of San Domenico. The online community, on platforms like X and Facebook, is already inundated with messages of condolence: "Rest in peace, Pasquale. Your story must serve as a warning to everyone," wrote one local user, echoing a shared grief that calls for structural changes in worker protections.
Comments (2)
This accident shows how important workplace safety is, yet it seems no one is learning from these tragic events. A real and profound change in the world of work is needed, otherwise we will continue to see tragedies like this.
Yes, it's truly an unacceptable situation. There are too many workplace accidents and deaths every year. I don't understand why more isn't done to protect workers from such accidents.