A 14-year-old British schoolboy has died in a horrific skiing accident while on a half-term holiday with his family in northern Italy.
Despite wearing a helmet, the teenager suffered severe chest injuries after losing control on the slopes and crashing into a tree.
Paramedics frantically fought to save him for over half an hour using a defibrillator, but he was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
His devastated parents watched in anguish as emergency responders battled in vain to revive their son, according to reports from Italian media.
The accident happened on the Falzarego red run, an intermediate-level slope spanning 3.5km from Lagazuoi toward Col Gallina.
Witnesses say the boy had built up significant speed before hitting a dip that launched him forward uncontrollably, sending him crashing into a tree at high impact.
Francesco Cataldo Giorgi, vice president of the Happy Ski school in Cortina, described the tragic event as ‘a matter of cruel bad luck.’
‘Had he fallen just a few metres earlier or later, he may have escaped unharmed.
‘But in this sport, one wrong fall in the wrong place can be fatal.
‘We must always exercise extreme caution,’ he told Corriere del Veneto.
The family had been holidaying in the Bolzano region with two other families and had only just begun their day’s skiing when the tragedy unfolded at around 9:30am.
Now, grief-stricken, the boy’s parents are receiving medical and psychological support as they face the devastating task of repatriating their son’s body back to the UK.
Investigators are now working to determine whether any hidden dangers or unusual features on the slope may have played a role in the heart-wrenching accident.
The tragedy serves as a stark reminder of the perils of skiing, even for those with experience, as the resort community mourns the loss of a young life cut short.
It comes after a 19-year-old student tragically lost his life while skiing on a Massachusetts mountain’s most challenging trail last month.
Alex Kemp, from New Jersey, suffered severe head trauma in a skiing accident at the Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock.
He tragically succumbed to his injures and was pronounced dead on January 7.
‘Our thoughts and hearts are with his family, his high school teammates and coaches and everyone else wo was lucky enough to know Alex,’ Dusty Lopez, Kemp’s cross-country coach, said in a statement.
Police received a 911 call at around 2:39 pm on January 6 informing them of an accident that took place on the left side of the Cutter Trail.
The Cutter Trail – a 643-foot black diamond ski run trail – is considered the ‘most difficult’ course for expert skiers, according to a Jiminy Peak trail map.