An elementary school teacher from Italy who was vacationing on a cruise around Africa fell and died in a freak accident after her ship collided with another tourism vessel on the Nile River on Sunday.
Denise Ruggeri, 47, was traveling aboard the Royal Beau Rivage ship with her husband for a long-awaited holiday vacation when their vessel crashed into another vessel along the Nile River around 7 p.m. Sunday, Italian news outlets L’Unione Sarda, Il Messaggero and ANSA reported.
When the vessels slammed into each other, Ruggeri fell inside her cabin. She somehow suffered a punctured lung and couldn’t be saved even after receiving medical treatment, Il Messaggero reported.
During the collision, multiple passengers fell overboard and four cabins aboard the Royal Beau Rivage were destroyed, L’Unione Sarda reported. It’s unclear if Ruggeri’s cabin was damaged.
The Royal Beau Rivage captain had his license suspended after he attempted the ruinous “sharp maneuver” that authorities with Egypt’s General Authority for River Transport suspect caused the crash, The Maritime Executive reported.
Officials said that the captain “violated international river navigation rules, which grant right of way to vessels traveling with the current,” Nova.News reported.
Ruggeri was a teacher in Pizzoli, a small commune in the Province of L’Aquila. Her father once served as the deputy mayor in her hometown, Cagano Amiterno, the current Mayor Iside Di Martino said.
“It is dreadful to think of a young life lost like that, at a time when she should have been happy,” Di Martino said.
“Denise had gone there on holiday to admire the beauty of all those places. We face very difficult days ahead. I know her and her family. Everyone knows everyone in this village. Her father was once deputy mayor. Denise was known by so many of the children here – she taught in a private infants’ school in the nearby village of Pizzoli,” the mayor added, CrimeOnline reported.
Agostino Palese, the Italian ambassador to Cairo, told Il Messaggero that he hadn’t received any “news of other Italians being involved” in the devastating crash.
Egyptian prosecutors are investigating the crash, ANSA reported.
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