A 15-year-old boy was crushed to death when his grandfather’s tractor overturned during a joyride.
Leonardo Accioli was spending the evening with friends at his family’s farmhouse on Saturday (17 October).
The farmhouse had been unoccupied since his grandfather’s death, with an old tractor kept in the shed.
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Before heading home, Leonardo is believed to have taken the tractor, which had no cab, out for a spin with his friends for a bit of fun. According to his peers, he had done so on previous occasions.
Leonardo drove off along a steep dirt track in Terontola Alta, Cortona, Italy. Minutes passed, but he failed to return.
After waiting for him, his friends raised the alarm and went looking for him, as reported by Need To Know.
Emergency services were alerted shortly before midnight. Police arrived promptly, launched a search and eventually found the tractor overturned on an embankment.
Leonardo was trapped underneath and had already died. Firefighters freed his body, but attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
The tractor is believed to have encountered a sudden drop in the track, causing it to overturn and crush the teenager.
Investigations have found no third-party liability.
Leonardo was studying hospitality and catering at the Vegni Institute in Le Capezzine.
“He got on well with the other students and was well liked by everyone,” his Italian and history teacher, Alessandro Ferri, told local media.
“His passion was rap and trap music, like all boys his age.
“He adored the light-blue baseball cap he wore every day. Even when someone at school asked him to take it off, he would never part with it.”
On Saturday night, that same cap lay in the grass near the tractor, beside Leonardo’s body.
Leonardo is survived by his mother, Manola, and his 20-year-old sister, Matilde. The family had already suffered several bereavements within the space of a few years.
First, Leonardo’s father died of a heart attack when he was still a young child. His grandfather’s death followed in later years.
His funeral will be held in Terontola tomorrow (23 October), and he will be laid to rest in the local cemetery.
Local amateur football club GS Terontola 1963 paid tribute to the teenager, writing: “From today, there will be one more star in the sky, and a little piece of you will live on forever in our yellow and blue colours.”
“Our goalkeeper was his cousin,” club president Alessio Topini told local media.
“Leonardo was never part of the team, but he was often in the stands cheering us on.”
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