Octav Stroici communicated with the firefighters who were trying to reach him, shouting from the darkness as the rescue teams lowered an oxygen mask. His last words were: “Hurry up, I don’t know how long I can last, save me”. The 66-year-old man had only one year left until retirement.
Octav Stroici died under the rubble of the Torre dei Conti tower PHOTO: Facebook
Originally from Suceava, Octav lived with his wife and daughter in Monterotondo, near Rome. He was part of the team working on the restoration of the Torre dei Conti tower, part of which collapsed on Monday morning.
His last words were relayed to rescuers through an oxygen mask, a source of encouragement to firefighters who were digging even with their bare hands to reach him. “Hurry up, I don’t know how long I can last, save me”, he managed to speak Romanian. After 11 hours of intense efforts, rescue teams managed to extract Octav’s injured body through a very narrow hole, reports the Italian daily La Repubblica.
As soon as he was put in the ambulance, the man received cardiac massage. “Let’s hope“, doctors told him. His condition remained critical, despite the impressive success of rescue teams, who worked late into the night using drones and debris-clearing machines, with the risk of further collapse constant. “One wrong move and everything comes crashing down”admitted one of the rescuers.
Tragedy and the context of the works
The portion of the Torre dei Conti tower, located near the Colosseum, collapsed on Monday at around 11:30 a.m. during restoration work. Three other workers, including a 48-year-old Romanian, were initially trapped on the upper level of the building, but were rescued. The 48-year-old Romanian suffered minor injuries and is out of any danger.
The Torre dei Conti tower, 29 meters high and located on Via dei Fori Imperiali, was once the seat of the town hall and is now undergoing a four-year restoration project due to be completed next year.
Octav Stroici could have applied for unemployment, but he continued to work, and the tragedy came just a year before his retirement.
