Mattia Cossettini died from complications caused by a brain tumor. A pathology that the parents of the 9-year-old boy were completely unaware of. A tragedy is the case of the Friulian child who died during the night between Sunday 5 and Monday 6 January while on vacation with his parents in a tourist village in Marsa Alam, Egypt, where they had arrived on January 2.

The Red Sea Health Affairs Directorate reported the cause of death in a message posted on its Facebook profile last night: "Death was caused by complications from a brain tumor, which the child had been suffering from before going to Egypt." There was also a contributing factor: "A bacterial pneumonia infection, which led to cardiac arrest." The Health Directorate stated that the child had "arrived at the hospital in Marsa Alam, in the Red Sea governorate, at 2:30 am on Monday, January 6 (...) completely unconscious, clinically dead. Before admission, he had been suffering from recurrent vomiting and severe headaches. The convulsions had begun the day before admission."

According to Egyptian health authorities, "the hospital report indicated that the child had undergone a CT scan, which revealed a brain hemorrhage caused by the tumor." The health workers did everything they could: "The fluid accumulated in the trachea was removed," an opening was created "to allow oxygen to enter the lungs and several attempts at cardiac resuscitation were made, unfortunately without any results."

The parents have made it known through their lawyer, Maria Virginia Maccari, that "Mattia has never suffered from any symptoms that could suggest or even imagine that he was suffering from pathologies or other health problems". Mattia's father and mother have since returned home to Tricesimo (Udine), where they had moved some time ago from another town in Friuli.

They arrived late yesterday evening and are awaiting the return of the body, which "has not yet been ordered by the Egyptian authorities", as specified by the lawyer Maccari. The little boy had felt ill during a boat trip, had lost consciousness for a few moments and, upon recovering, had complained of a strong headache. He had returned immediately from the excursion and was visited in the clinic inside the international village where the family was staying.

The first diagnosis described a possible sunstroke due to prolonged exposure during the trip. The doctor had prescribed a tonic and rest, not seeing the need for further diagnostic tests. But a few hours later the child had lost consciousness again: at that point the paramedics were alerted and urgently accompanied him to the first aid station. Already at that moment the rescuers had hypothesized a death due to a cerebral hemorrhage.

(Online Union)

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