Two small white coffins a symbol of Italy’s tragedy
ON a day of desperate grief and tearful farewells, it was perhaps the most poignant image.
Italy held a mass funeral on Saturday for 35 of the 290 people killed in last week’s devastating earthquake, with the coffins of the victims lined up in a sports hall in the town of Ascoli Piceno, on the edge of the earthquake zone.
Among them were two small white caskets, holding the bodies of children whose lives were snuffed out when the quake hit at 3.36am on Wednesday, turning a picturesque area of lakes, forests and stone villages into a death zone.
In one of the coffins was the body of an eight-year-old girl, Giulia Rinaldo, who sacrificed her life by throwing herself on top of her four-year-old sister, Giorgia, when the ceiling of their bedroom came crashing down in the village of Pescara del Tronto.
Sniffer dogs managed to locate Giorgia and firemen dug her out of the rubble on Wednesday evening after she had been trapped in the embrace of her dead sister for 16 hours. The little girl turned five on Saturday, just as the funeral of her sister was held.
Rescue workers believe Giulia’s instinctive decision to shield Giorgia saved the younger girl’s life, shielding her from falling masonry and creating an air pocket.
A note by a fireman on her coffin read: “Ciao, little one, I gave a hand trying to pull you out of that prison of rubble. Sorry we didn’t make it in time.
“Unfortunately you had stopped breathing, but I want you to know we did all that we could to pull you out.
“When I get home I will know that there is an angel watching me from heaven. Ciao Giulia, even if I never knew you, I love you. Andrea.”
The sisters had become symbols of the earthquake, Giovanni D’Ercole, the bishop who led the service, said.
“The older one, Giulia, who sadly died, was found protecting the little one, who was found terrified, her mouth full of dust.
“Death and life in an embrace, but life won. Life was renewed, in fact, because surviving an earthquake is like being born again,” the bishop said in his homily at the mass funeral.
Giorgia has reportedly not spoken since being rescued and is in a state of deep shock.
The 35 dead came from Pescara del Tronto and Arquata del Tronto, once idyllic hillside villages, but now wastelands of rubble, dust and crushed cars.
Families wept at the side of coffins, clutched onto them in a last embrace and placed flowers and photographs of the dead on top.
The tiniest white coffin belonged to 18-month-old Marisol Piermarini.
Her mother, Martina Turco, had survived the nearby L’Aquila earthquake in 2009, and had moved away to escape the memories.
Italians observed a day of national mourning, and flags flew at half-mast.
The funeral service was attended by Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, and president, Sergio Mattarella.
Rescuers were yesterday continuing to dig through the rubble of Amatrice, although hopes of finding any survivors diminished by the hour.
Nine more bodies were recovered yesterday. – The Telegraph