9-year-old girl died in her bed; the whole town in tears

Ponte Tresa is an anguished and speechless town. The cause of the sorrow has been the sudden death of a 9-year-old girl, Martina Gambalonga, found lifeless in her bed yesterday, Sunday 1^st May. The child went to sleep like every evening and her parents found her lifeless the following morning: they immediately called the hospital, there was an attempted resuscitation and the transport to Circolo hospital in Varese, but everything was useless. Martina, who would have turned 10 in September, arrived at the hospital already dead.

Her parents, her father is a decorator and her mother is the owner of a laundry, couldn’t do anything else than become aware of the tragedy. On the 1^st May, but also today, Monday 2^nd, the whole town has been in tears for the child’s sudden death: her family is well-known in Ponte Tresa (in the picture). Many people showed solidarity, starting from the mayor Pietro Roncoroni: “A terrible, split-second, sudden misfortune that struck all of us” he explains “The community is dismayed: they are very good people, well-known, who have been living in Ponte Tresa for ages. There are no words left, I can only express to them my solidarity.”

This morning, when Martina’s school reopened, on her desk there was a little angel, brought in by her parents. The teachers of the Educandato Maria Santissima Bambina, in Brissago Valtravaglia, tried to explain what had happened to the school pupils: “We told them that Martina went on a journey” commented on this Sister Andreina, principal of the School -“The children brought flowers and wrote letters dedicated to their classmate. It was a sudden event that struck all of us in a very strong, violent way. Martina was a serene, radiant, affectionate child. One of her classmates, who is a live wire, this morning told me that she helped him to be quieter. Her mum and dad brought here a small angel: we like remembering her like this.”

The child’s body was taken to the morgue. The autopsy will clarify the causes of a death that occurred for natural events, which up to now have been unknown. The little child was fine and she has never given signals that could make her parents think of health problems. Martina’s parents, instead of canonical wreaths, asked to the school and to classmates’ families of the child to organise a collection: in short time they will illustrate the terms for the fund-raising.