March• 2019 | 129More than 30 hours after the search began, rescuers heard a woman crying for helpsilenced their saws and listened: it
was Matrone.
Hewasstillfadinginandout
of consciousness. A vision of his
wife,Valentina,hoveredoverhim,
an angel of mercy,hethought.She
assuredhimhewouldbeOK.
Di Quinzio’s team aimed heat
lampstowardsthecrevicethatcon-
tained Matrone, hoping that the
warmthwouldwardoffhypother-
mia.“Giampaolo,wearehere!”Di
Quinzio shouted, three metres above
where the trapped man lay. “Are you
injured? Are you bleeding?”
As the voices and the buzzing of
saws grew louder, Matrone became
more alert. “Be careful with the saw,”
he admonished the rescuers. “Becareful, there is my wife, my daughter.”
In his confusion, he had forgotten that
his daughter had remained in Rome.
“We have put them in the car
becauseit’scold,”DiQuinziolied.He
kepttheconversationgoing,trying to
keep Matrone conscious.
“What’s your profession?”
“I’mabaker.”
At last, around six in the morn-
ing, Di Quinzio’s saw broke through
a final, thick layer of insulation. Di
Quinzio could see how the angled
concrete beams had created a small
cocoon that prevented Matrone from
being crushed to death. Those near
him had not been so lucky. Squeezed
in the space with him were the bodies
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK of two women – one supporting his