Firefighters' heartbreak after rushing to car crash and realising who victim is
Omar Masiam died instantly after he was pinned in an overturned BMW which went over the edge of a bridge in Sardinia, Italy, and plunged 10 metres into a dry riverbed
A firefighter called to the scene of a car crash was left devastated after he discovered the victim was his own son.
Omar Masia, 25, and four friends were returning from a party along a narrow, unpaved road in Sardinia, Italy, in the early hours of October 26 when their car, a BMW, swerved as they drove across Baldu Bridge on Baldu-L’Agnata road in Tempio Pausania. The car plummeted 10 metres after breaking through the bridge's rusted metal railings and into a dry riverbed below, landing on its roof.
Omar was tragically crushed, having been sitting in the back seat when the roof caved in, and died instantly according to emergency services, with his father among the first people to find his lifeless body at the scene.
Emergency services were alerted by the other passengers, with the driver and one other passenger able to escape despite being injured in the smash. With no phone signal and no passing cars, the pair had to trek to a nearby house before they could raise the alarm.
Firefighters were dispatched to the scene, including Massimiliano Masia, Omar’s father, who reportedly shouted "but that's my son" as the onboard radio crackled the names of those involved.
Upon arriving along the Baldu-L’Agnata road, Massimiliano recognised some of his son’s friends, and moments later, he was informed that Omar was trapped inside the car. He watched on as attempts to revive his son failed. Crash survivors were taken to the hospital and are reported to be doing well, with one already discharged.
Omar, from Calangianus, worked as an electrician. Antonio Giordano of the Sassari Fire Brigade said in a statement that Mr Masia received "a wound beyond comprehension" as he attended the accident that killed his son.
He said: “The thought that Massimiliano, who dedicated his life to rushing into danger to save others, was confronted with the most devastating accident - one involving the person he loved most - is a wound beyond comprehension.”
Authorities have not been able to confirm what caused the BMW to swerve in the moments before the fatal fall, and police are questioning local authorities in Tempio Pausania about the poor condition of the road.
The driver, who tested slightly above the legal alcohol limit, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, with the incident having prompted investigations of other bridges in the area near to where it took place.