Secondigliano tragedy

Last updated

The Secondigliano tragedy, better known as the Secondigliano abyss, was a disaster in January 1996 involving gas leak explosion that occurred in Naples, in the Secondigliano district, where a total of 11 people lost their lives. [1]

Contents

Background

For some time the Secondigliano crossroads had been involved in the construction works of the tunnel of the state road 87 NC from Miano to Arzano. Eight in all the workers who worked inside the tunnel for the company "Scarl Arzano". [1]

Event

At 4:20 pm on Tuesday 23 January 1996, inside the tunnel, a gas leak occurred which immediately caused a very strong explosion, due to the drilling of a methane gas pipe inside the tunnel. The explosion took the buildings of the crossroads in full, where the wing of a three-storey building, the latter with an eviction order issued just a few days earlier, collapsed, causing a massive fire and causing the all, opening a chasm about 30 m wide. [2]

The chasm, of unusual width, destroyed the square: the fire that had affected the area of the crossroads made it completely impossible for rescuers to arrive, who managed to tame it only eight hours later, around 1:00 am on 24 January. In the morning the rescuers had to dig for a long time to try to rescue someone still alive under the burnt rubble, but no one was found alive. [3]

It took a long time to rebuild the entire crossroads and to put the damaged buildings back in place, while instead, since then, the construction of the tunnel after the tragedy was interrupted and, to this day, work has not resumed. [4]

Victims

There were a total of 11 victims, 6 workers, 2 people in their cars, and 3 in the collapsed building. Two workers managed to get to safety, exiting the tunnel just before the explosion. The victims are Michele Sparaco, Alfonso Scala, Mario De Girolamo, Giuseppe Petrellese, Gennaro De Luca, Emilia Laudati, Francesco Russo, Pasquale Silvestro, Ciro Vastarella, Serena De Santis, Stefania Bellone [2] While most bodies of the victims were recovered, only that of Stefania Bellone has never been found since then. [2]

Commemoration

The "Family Victims of the Secondigliano Tragedy" association was formed, formed precisely by the families of the victims of the disaster, who each time reaffirm justice for the victims, having only 20 arrests and 3 convictions. Every year, on 23 January at 4:20 pm, the time of the disaster, there is a torchlight procession in memory of the disaster. [5]

Related Research Articles

A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries where safety measures are not practiced as fully. A mining disaster is an incident where there are five or more fatalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balvano train disaster</span> Deadliest railway accident in Italian history, in 1944

The Balvano train disaster was the deadliest railway accident in Italian history and one of the worst railway disasters ever. It occurred on the night between 2–3 March 1944 in Balvano, Basilicata. Over 500 people in a steam-hauled, coal-burning freight train died of carbon monoxide poisoning during a protracted stall in a tunnel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humberto Vidal explosion</span> Explosion in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1996

The Humberto Vidal explosion was a gas explosion that occurred on November 21, 1996 at the Humberto Vidal shoe store in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. The explosion killed 33 and wounded 69 others when the building collapsed. It is one of the deadliest disasters to have occurred on the island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scampia</span> Suburb of Naples, Italy

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monongah mining disaster</span> 1907 explosion in West Virginia

The Monongah mining disaster of Monongah, West Virginia occurred on December 6, 1907, and has been described as "the worst mining disaster in American history." 362 miners were killed. The explosion occurred in Fairmont Coal Company’s No. 6 and No. 8 mines, and was one of the contributing events leading to the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secondigliano</span>

Secondigliano is an old Italian municipality which became a modern suburb in the north of Naples.

The Castle Gate mine disaster occurred on March 8, 1924, in a coal mine near the town of Castle Gate, Utah, located approximately 90 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. All of the 171 men working in the mine were killed in the series of three violent explosions. One worker, the leader of the rescue crew, died from carbon monoxide inhalation while attempting to reach the victims shortly after the explosion.

The Di Lauro clan is an Italian crime clan, part of the Camorra in Naples. The clan operates in the neighbourhoods of Secondigliano, Scampìa, Miano, Marianella, Piscinola, and in the adjacent municipalities of Casavatore, Melito, Arzano, Villaricca and Mugnano. At its peak, between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, the organization was earning more than €500,000 a day from the sale of drugs alone, making Secondigliano the largest open-air drug market in Europe. The founder of the clan is Paolo Di Lauro, from Via Cupa dell'Arco, in Secondigliano.

The Contini clan is a powerful Neapolitan Camorra clan operating in the city of Naples, and more specifically in the area of the Naples Central Station. The clan's traditional powerbase is the Arenaccia district. It also operates in the Poggioreale, Vasto, Mercato and San Carlo all'Arena suburbs of Naples. The clan is also active outside Italy, particularly in Barcelona, Spain, in Amsterdam, Netherlands and in Eastern Europe. The Contini clan is also one of the founding clans of the Secondigliano Alliance, which is considered by the authorities as the most powerful Camorra group that is still active.

The Scissionisti di Secondigliano or Amato-Pagano clan is a Camorra clan from the Secondigliano district of Naples, headed by Raffaele Amato and Cesare Pagano. They are also known as "Spagnoli" (Spaniards) because of their strong presence in Spain, particularly in Costa del Sol and Barcelona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marco Di Lauro</span> Italian Camorrista and Di Lauro clan member

Marco Di Lauro is an Italian Camorrista and member of the Di Lauro clan from Naples. After having been a fugitive for 14 years and been included on the list of most wanted fugitives in Italy, he was captured in Naples on 2 March 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viareggio train derailment</span> 2009 derailment and train fire in Italy

The Viareggio derailment was the derailment and subsequent fire of a freight train carrying liquefied petroleum gas. It occurred on 29 June 2009 in a railway station in Viareggio, Lucca, a city in Central Italy's Tuscany region. Thirty-two people were killed and a further twenty-six were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Messina floods and mudslides</span> Natural disasters in Italy

The 2009 Messina floods and mudslides occurred in Sicily on the night of 1–2 October, mainly along the Ionian coast in the Province of Messina. They also affected other parts of northeastern Sicily and killed a total of at least 31 people, some of whom were swept out to sea. More than 400 people were left homeless, as many houses collapsed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 Warsaw gas explosion</span>

The 1979 explosion at PKO Bank Polski's Rotunda office in Warsaw took place on February 15, 1979, at 12:37 p.m. As a result, 49 people died and 135 were injured. Officially, the tragedy was caused by a gas explosion, but in the course of time much speculation appeared, and Varsovians talked among themselves that the building had been blown up by a bomb. Furthermore, to many the explosion served as a harbinger of future changes in Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Rosario gas explosion</span> Disaster in building in Argentina

A gas explosion caused by a large gas leak occurred in a residential area of Rosario, the third-largest city in Argentina, on August 6, 2013. A nearby building collapsed, and others were at high risk of structural failure. Twenty-two people died, and sixty were injured. Several organizations helped secure the area, search for survivors and aid people who lost their homes. Shortly after the explosion, the time needed for reconstruction was estimated at six months.

The Aprea-Cuccaro clan is a Camorra clan operating in the area of Barra, in the city of Naples.

Events during the year 2021 in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Marmolada serac collapse</span> Serac collapse in Italy

On 3 July 2022, a serac collapsed on the mountain of Marmolada, in the Dolomites at the regional border between Trentino and Veneto, Italy. Eleven people were killed and eight were wounded. The large-scale collapse of the serac led to one of the most serious accidents in the Alps in recent decades.

Heavy rain hit the island of Ischia, located in the Tyrrhenian Sea, causing damage to the comune of Casamicciola Terme. Twelve people were killed and five others were injured.

References

  1. 1 2 "23 Gennaio 1996, la "Strage di Secondigliano": 11 persone inghiottite dalla voragine". vesuviolive.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  2. 1 2 3 "Tragedia Secondigliano: superstite, sogno vittime ogni notte - Campania". ANSA (in Italian). 2021-01-23. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  3. "Consiglio Comunale di Napoli Odg: il disastro di Secondigliano". Radio Radicale (in Italian). 1996-03-07. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  4. ""Voragine di Secondigliano, fu colpa del crollo della volta di una galleria sotterranea"". Il Mattino (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  5. "La tragedia di Secondigliano, persero la vita undici persone: la fiaccolata per ricordare le vittime". Voce di Napoli (in Italian). 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2021-02-09.