NEED TO KNOW
- Sofia Di Vico, a 15-year-old girl, died allegedly due to an allergic reaction to dairy during a trip with her basketball team
- The teen went out to dinner with her teammates and reportedly experienced trouble breathing later that evening
- Despite medical intervention, Di Vico did not survive
A teenage girl died allegedly due to an allergic reaction to dairy during a trip with her basketball team.
Sofia Di Vico, 15, of Maddaloni, a town in southern Italy, was with her team for a tournament near Rome on April 2 when the tragedy occurred, according to local outlets La Sicilia and Il Messaggero.
Sofia, who had an allergy to dairy proteins, had gone out to dinner with teammates, per the outlets. The teens then returned to a campsite where they were staying for the night.
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Help was called at about 10:40 p.m. local when Sofia appeared in medical distress, saying, “I can’t breathe”, per La Sicilia.
Sofia had brought medication with her, which did not help the situation, according to La Sicilia and Il Messaggero. She was taken by ambulance to Grassi Hospital in Rome, where she died.
An autopsy will be performed at Policlinico Tor Vergata, a hospital in Rome, and an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, specifically regarding whether the restaurant in which the teens ate dinner had been made aware of Sofia’s allergy and if there was contamination in the food preparation process, per La Sicilia.
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Grassi Hospital, Policlinico Tor Vergata and the local prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
FIP Campania, the regional governing body for basketball in southern Italy, announced that it had suspended the weekend’s games due to the tragedy in a message shared to Facebook on April 3.
“FIP Campania expresses its deepest condolences for the tragic passing of Sofia Di Vico, a young player for Uniobasket Maddaloni, who was preparing to compete with her team in the ‘Mare di Roma Trophy’ tournament,” they wrote in their translated statement.
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“A devastating tragedy — a pain too great and difficult to accept — that affects the entire basketball community in Campania,” they continued. “The pain of her family, her teammates and her club is a pain shared by all of us.”
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Andrea De Filippo, the mayor of Maddaloni, also addressed the “terrible news” in a translated message shared on Facebook on April 3, noting that the loss felt especially close to home as he has a personal connection to Sofia’s family.
“I learned with deep emotion and disbelief of the tragic passing of young Sofia — an event as sudden as it is inexplicable, which leaves immense sorrow and affects the entire city,” he said.
“It is a loss I feel particularly deeply as well, given the feelings of esteem and affection that have long tied me to her family. It is a day of profound sadness for all of us,” De Filippo added.
“To her parents, Fabio and Antonella, and to all her loved ones, I extend my heartfelt condolences and my sincerest sympathy, on behalf of myself and the entire community,” he continued.
“Our sweetest thoughts and prayers go to little Sofia,” De Filippo concluded in his message.
