“Enough dead at work.” Torchlight march in Rome in memory of Octav Stroici, the Romanian worker who died under the rubble of the Torre dei Conti in Rome

Italian unions organized a torchlight march from the Colosseum to the Imperial Forums on Tuesday evening, in memory of Octav Stroici, the 66-year-old Romanian worker who died after being trapped under the rubble for 11 hours, following the partial collapse of the Torre dei Conti building, reports Corriere della Sera.

Arriving at the crash site, the participants shouted: “For Octav!”. The mayor of Rome was also present at the demonstration, along with numerous representatives of the political parties.

The mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, declared Wednesday, November 5, a day of mourning in the city, in tribute to Stroici.

“We are at the Imperial Forums, on the side of the Colosseum, for a torchlight march in memory of Octav Stroici, the worker trapped under the rubble following the collapse of the Torre dei Conti and brought out in a very serious condition after more than eleven hours of complex and intense rescue operations,” the trade union organizations said. It was “a day of deep mourning, therefore, not just for the world of work, but for our entire community, deeply wounded by this tragedy.”

“Octav was working at 66 years old, the age at which he should have already enjoyed his pension”

“Octav died while performing hard, intense and dangerous work at the age of 66, an age at which he should not only have been exempted from such activities, but at which he should have already enjoyed a pension,” the unions added, according to Collettiva.

Octav Stroici, a 66-year-old Romanian, was working on an EU-funded project to restore Torre dei Conti, the former residence of a noble papal family, when the building partially collapsed twice.

He was eventually pulled from the rubble after 11 hours, but suffered a cardiac arrest and died in hospital. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible manslaughter.

Pulling Stroici from the rubble was described as an exceptional achievement by firefighters who worked late into the night. Rescue teams used drones and debris removal machines to try to reach him, despite the risk of the fragile tower collapsing further.

He was conscious and talking to emergency crews throughout the rescue operation. His wife was also at the scene.

Stroici's rescue efforts were interrupted when a second section of the 29-metre tower began to collapse again, the bricks falling in waves and creating a huge cloud of dust.