A new grandmother was crushed to death by a bulldozer as she sunbathed on the beach.
Retired teacher Elisa Spadavecchia was on holiday with her ex-cop husband Giovanni Sfregola, at the time.
She had gone out for a walk while Giovanni stayed behind at their hotel with some friends.
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He told local media: “My wife went for her walk carrying only her phone.
When it happened, she had nothing on her that could identify her.
“Not seeing her come back, I started calling her, but she didn’t answer.
Then I suddenly remembered she also had an iPad.
“So I used ‘Find My iPhone’ to locate her phone.
Once I found it, I got someone to take me to the exact spot where, sadly, I found my wife.
”Elisa, 66, had been fatally run over by a bulldozer weighing several tonnes in Pinarella di Cervia, south east of Bologna, Italy on Saturday (24 May) morning.
Giovanni recalled: “They didn’t let me see her, but they told me that even the lifeguard who witnessed the scene fell ill and ended up in hospital.
”The bulldozer driver, Lerry Gnoli, has been charged with manslaughter, as reported by Need To Know.
Local media say he has a previous conviction for road homicide and was allegedly operating the heavy equipment without a licence.
But Gnoli, 54, claims he was authorised to carry out the “works on the beach” at the time.
He has been released without any pre-trial conditions.His lawyer, Vittorio Manes, told local media:
“My client is terribly sorry, it’s a huge tragedy.
“He can’t understand how it could have happened and sends his condolences to the woman’s family.”
Elisa had retired a few years ago after a career as an English teacher at a school for pupils aged 14 to 19.
She and her husband – a retired policeman – had recently celebrated the arrival of a grandson.
Giovanni said: “We were over the moon since my daughter’s child was born.
He’s not even three months old yet.
“Now, for us, it’s just an ocean of pain.
Something devastating that consumes you inside because you can’t come to terms with it.”
The investigation opened by the Ravenna Prosecutor’s Office is ongoing.
Detectives are working to find out why Gnoli was on the sand at the time and who gave him the alleged assignment.
Elisa lived just outside Vicenza, in Creazzo, whose mayor, Carmela Maresca, said: “Our town is stunned by this terrible news.”
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Fickle finger of fate. When your number comes up & you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, we cannot avoid the slash of the reaper’s blade.
So tragic.
One may only assume she failed to hear the engine as she had those blinking pods in her ears.