Drama on a beach in Italy: a man drowns while trying to save children | Miscellaneous facts

The one everyone nicknamed Saïd was actually called Rahhal Amarri and was 42 years old. He was of Moroccan origin and worked for years on the beach of “Lido dei Gabbiani” in Castel Volturno. He had been living with the owners of the private beach for years. This Tuesday morning, Rahhal was working when, around 9 a.m., he heard screams.

“Two children, aged 6 to 7, had arrived with their parents and were sitting on the fourth parasol in the first row at the water’s edge,” says Francesco Pio Russo, lifeguard at the beach. “The sea wasn’t particularly rough, but it’s always a bit wilder on the rocks. The children were swept away by the current. Their parents called for help and got Saïd’s attention”.

Saïd saw that the children were in trouble and rushed into the water without hesitation. According to the Ansa news agency, he managed to bring one of them back to safety on the beach, after which he dived again into the sea to save the second child.

Meanwhile, a fisherman, along with Francesco, had also jumped into the water from the rocks. Together, they managed to bring the second child back to the beach, before noticing that Saïd was calling for help.

“I got to him and he clung to me, but dragged me down,” Francesco said in tears. “I had to leave it behind to go get the lifeboat, but it was already motionless in the water by then.”

Emergency services tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him. “If only he had waited for me before entering the water,” sobbed Francesco, who knew Saïd well. “I considered him a brother.”

Rahhal “Said” Amarri planned to return to his wife and child in Morocco. An autopsy has yet to reveal the exact cause of death, with doctors wanting to make sure there were no other factors that would have led to death. The two rescued children and their parents disappeared immediately after returning to the beach.