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August 14, 2019A holiday that ended in tragedy. The Sicilian manager Eugenio Vinci, who for many years had worked at the top of Assindustria Molise, died in a boat in Croatia, intoxicated by exhaust gases. And two of his children are hospitalized in very serious condition, due to an accident that at first seemed to have been caused by food poisoning. Around 10 am, a request for help was launched from a yacht rented off Hvar on the homonymous Dalmatian island, which reported that a 57-year-old man had died on board. The other five tourists had also suffered from illnesses: especially the two children of Vinci, aged 8 and 14, with strong diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, a loss of consciousness, so much so as to request their transfer by helicopter to the hospital center of Split, at around 50 km from the island. The two children are in very serious condition and undergo intensive care in the pediatric ward. At first the Croatian press speculated that it was food poisoning. Apparently, in fact, the Vinci family had consumed a dinner of mussels and other shellfish in a well-known restaurant in Hvar the night before, and during the night they would start complaining about gastrointestinal illnesses. But then it turned out that the intoxication was caused by the exhaust gas coming from the toilet or from the air conditioner. Vinci lost consciousness due to the fumes, beating his head in the fall. And his friends found him without life.
Bruno Mancuso, the mayor of the Sicilian town of Sant'Agata di Militello, is among the people admitted. Together with the other two adults taken to the hospital, he is not in serious condition. "We are all bewildered, we had left to spend a vacation together and we never thought it would turn into a tragedy", said Mancuso, explaining that "after eating we all felt bad". Some have recovered immediately, but the two children "are serious and we hope they will improve", he added, reporting that the local authorities have opened an investigation and will do an autopsy on the body of Vinci. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Consulate General in Rijeka, is in contact with family members in Croatia to lend them every possible assistance.

The 57-year-old Eugenio Vinci had spent part of his professional life in Molise, moving to the region in the 80s as general manager of Pop 84, a textile company of the Isernino. And in the 90s he had served as vice president of regional Assindustria. His work had then taken him to Rome, to the Dico group, in large-scale food distribution. "I lost a dear friend, who sent me a message from Croatia last Sunday telling me 'I'm from God, only you are still working ...", said former President of the Molise Region Paolo Frattura.