(ANSA) - ROME, FEBRUARY 25 - The state funeral for the Ambassador Luca Attanasio and the carabiniere Vittorio Iacovacci killed in Congo has begun in the basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
The caskets, wrapped in the tricolor, were transported to the church by the carabinieri of the 13th regiment, that of Iacovacci.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Ministers Lorenzo Guerini, Luigi Di Maio, Luciana Lamorgese, Giancarlo Giorgetti and the Presidents of the Chamber and Senate Roberto Fico and Maria Elisabetta Casellati, as well as the families of the disappeared, were present.
The church is closed to the public.
The coffins are wrapped in the tricolor. In the front row, besides the representatives of the highest Italian institutions, among the families of the victims is the wife of Luca Attanasio who wears a black veil and holds one of her daughters in her arms. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis is celebrating the state funeral of the two Italians killed in an ambush in Congo. (HANDLE).