A 4-year-old Piedmontese girl risked drowning
in the early afternoon in Riva Ligure (Imperia), after falling from the rocks near the port.
A lifeguard from a nearby beach saved her.
Health personnel and the Coast Guard then intervened on the spot.
The little girl was stabilized and treated on site with oxygen.
She was then taken by helicopter in code red to the Gaslini pediatric hospital in Genoa.
Investigations are underway to reconstruct the story and assess any negligence or fault of third parties.
On the beach there was also a Turin first aid pediatrician when in Riva Ligure the lifeguard 'hero' Dennis Cusmà, 21, rescued and brought the 4-year-old girl to shore
, who today risked drowning, after an accidental fall at sea. A case that could have made a difference for the little girl.
"We applied the basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers and we hope everything went well," said the doctor.
"I saw the little one wriggle once, twice, at one point I noticed her little body half submerged, face down.
I immediately took her ashore, but she was unconscious," said Cusmà.
The little girl is in serious condition but the hope is that she can get away with it. It fell into the sea from the rocks on the free beach of Riva Ligure, near the marina, for reasons still under investigation. Cusmà, from Taggia, was in service at the nearby 'La Scogliera' baths. "I was in position and as usual I was patrolling every corner of the coast - he said -. I did not see the child in difficulty, because my visibility was obscured by the cliff". At one point, however, a group of kids ran towards the lifeguard shouting and warning of the little girl who was fumbling in the sea.
The emergency pediatrician works at the Regina Margherita hospital, in the Piedmontese capital. "It is a semi-drowning", added the doctor only.
"We got scared, the little girl didn't move", the young lifeguard also added. On the beach of Riva Ligure, everyone is still a bit shaken by this afternoon's dramatic rescue, which could have had a very different ending. The 118 staff immediately intervened on the spot administered oxygen to the child, then transported by helicopter to Gaslini.
