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FIRE

Man arrested after woman set on fire in Lucca dies

The ex-colleague of a 46-year-old woman who died after being set on fire on Tuesday has been arrested in the Tuscany city of Lucca.

Man arrested after woman set on fire in Lucca dies
The 46-year-old health worker died after being set on fire, allegedly by a former colleague. Photo: Luca Parioli

Vania Vannucchi, a health worker, suffered second and third degree burns across 90 percent of her body after being doused in a flammable liquid and set alight.

She died of her injuries at Pisa's Cisanello hospital on Wednesday morning.

Pasquale Russo, who works for a cooperative within the healthcare sector, has been arrested for attempted murder, La Repubblica reported.

Before being sedated, Vannucchi managed to repeatedly tell paramedics that Russo, a married father-of-three, was her alleged assailant.

She was attacked behind a shed in an area of Lucca where a former hospital, now a centre for medical tests, was based.

Her screams were heard by some of the centre’s staff, who rushed to her aid and found her lying on the ground with her dress on fire. They immediately raised the alarm and tried to put the fire out with buckets of water.

Russo, who was found at home by police washing his work clothes and with two wounds on his arm, denies the charges.

In June, a 27-year-old security worker admitted burning his ex-girlfriend, 21-year-old Sara Pietrantonio, to death.

Vincenzo Paduano told investigators that he couldn't accept that she'd abandoned him.

Di Pietrantonio became the 55th “femicide” victim in Italy between January and June – three more were murdered by either a spouse, boyfriend or ex within the weeks that followed.

Last year, 128 women were victims of femicide, the year before there were 136. Thousands more have suffered domestic abuse or are stalked by men.

FIRE

Barcelona fire kills four, including two children

A fire ripped through an abandoned bank occupied by squatters in central Barcelona on Tuesday, killing four people, including a baby and a three year-old boy, Spanish firefighters said.

Police and firefighters gather outside an abandoned building where a blaze broke out early on November 30, 2021 in Barcelona, killing four people.
Police and firefighters gather outside an abandoned building where a blaze broke out early on November 30, 2021 in Barcelona, killing four people. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)

“While we were battling the fire, we found four people. Emergency services tried to revive them but unfortunately they failed, they could not do anything to save them,” the head of the firefighting operation, Ángel López, told reporters.

Firefighters rescued four other people who were inside the building while putting out the blaze, he added.

Those four were treated for smoke inhalation.

Firefighters rushed to the scene at around 6 am after being warned that a blaze had broken out in the building, Mr Lopez said.

While Mr López said it was not clear how the four dead people were related, Barcelona-based daily newspaper La Vanguardia said they were all members of a Romanian family.

A spokesman for Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, said an investigation had been opened into the causes of the fire.

In December 2020, four people were killed after a blaze ripped through an industrial complex occupied by squatters, many of them African migrants, near Barcelona.

Over 100 squatters were believed to be living in precarious conditions at the abandoned complex in Badalona, a suburban town north of the city.

In addition to the four deaths, more than 20 people were injured in the blaze.

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