Families Mourn After 'Brutal' Crash
Updated: 3:18pm UK, Tuesday 30 July 2013
By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent
Many of the relatives hadn't slept since they heard the news, some hugging the coffins overnight.
Wracked with grief, but numbed by shock and tiredness, they received a procession of well-wishers who fought their way through the congregation.
From the back of the sports stadium in the Monterusciello district of Pozzuoli, it looked like a melee as the priest struggled to keep order during a Mass for the victims.
He hissed and shouted "silence" into his microphone, but he couldn't hold back the tide.
The coffins were laid out before the makeshift altar in a room wide enough to hold two basketball courts. Even then, it could barely contain the dead and their families.
There was silence when the names were read out, a sad roll call which ended in applause.
Clapping is traditional here at funerals, to thank the deceased for their lives and show support for those left behind.
Federica Simeone lost her aunt Maria Carannante.
She described her as the "pillar of the family", which is large even by Italian standards.
Federica has 160 cousins and they kept in contact because of her mother's sister.
"She was known by everyone and everyone wished her well," she said.
"She was unique and I am so sorry this has happened. It's just so brutal and so tragic."
"Here at Pozzuoli, even if it's made up of different neighbourhoods like Monterusciello ... everyone knows everyone and we feel pain for all the others.
"It will have a horrible impact. It will be difficult to get back to smiling tomorrow."
We asked her what she thought of the investigation, whether mechanical failure or driver error might have been the cause.
"It doesn't interest me at all," she answered quickly.
"All that matters is that they can rest in peace. That is the truth.
"What happened, what happened to the driver, they talk about a brake problem, a burst tyre, poor road signs.
"You can't blame anyone. It happened. I just hope they can rest in peace because that is what they all deserve. My aunt and all of them."
After the service, each coffin was carried out to a waiting hearse.
Relatives were forced to give up their vigil and were prised from the wood.
Federica told us she wants her aunt to be remembered not as a number in a death count, but as a woman whose loss is devastating to her family.
That is why the 38 funerals, to be conducted across this Neapolitan suburb, will assume such a significance: to wrest the person from a grim statistic.
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