Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: Central European News
This 17-year-old girl has died on the final day of a family holiday after suffering an electric shock allegedly caused by stepping on a bare wire while walking barefoot across a bridge at a resort.
Argentine Melina Caputa had travelled to Punta Cana, a resort town in the east of the Dominican Republic, for a trip with her grandmothers along with her brothers and cousins.
Picture Credit: CEN & CEN/@nfwrp
The teen was heading back to their hotel from the beach, with her brothers and cousins at the time of the incident.
According to local media, Caputa was walking up some metal stairs onto a bridge when she allegedly came in contact with a naked wire.
It was reported that she was walking barefoot at the time. Doctors were rushed to attend to the emergency to try and resuscitate Caputa but it did not work.
Caputa’s reportedly father travelled to Punta Cana to join his family after the incident, while relatives and friends shared touching messages on social media.
Her friend Nicolas Baistrocchi, who shared pictures with her and a message that received more than 2,700 likes, wrote: “We both thought that if we were going to separate, it would be when we are old, but I never imagined that I was going to lose you so soon”.
Her brother Leandro put up a touching message on his Instagram profile to say: “I saw you being born, I saw you growing up, I saw you fighting, I saw you crying, I saw you smiling, I saw you dreaming, I saw you sleeping, I saw you with will of living that it is still difficult to understand why I am going on today.
“I know you were a good-intentioned person, as you were always fighting for the defenceless, I apologise my love for not being able to do more to have you by my side”.(sic)
Caputa was doing her sixth degree of orientation of Natural Sciences at a school in the city of San Juan in west-central Argentina.
Caputa was active on social media and right before her tragic death, she posted a message on her Instagram Stories saying: “me voy despidiendo”.(sic), which translates to, ‘I am saying goodbye’.
Preliminary investigations claim that she died from cardiorespiratory failure but this has yet to be confirmed by autopsy.
The director of communication of the hotel chain Globalia, owner of Be Live of Bayahibe, where they stayed, said in a press statement that there was no naked wiring on the premises and that they are awaiting the autopsy results.
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