Story By: William McGee, Sub-Editor:  Lee Bullen, Agency: Newsflash

A popular 26-year-old woman who was planning to marry her boyfriend shortly has died after the car she was in that was swept away during the flooding in northern Italy.

Desiree Quagliarella’s lifeless body was found after an hour-long search by emergency services and volunteers in the town of Albanella in south-western Campania region on 7 October.

Desiree was travelling in the car belonging to her fiancé’s brother, Fabio, who was driving.

After an afternoon of heavy rain, the nearby Malnome stream burst its banks and suddenly submerged the road on which they were travelling, quickly flooding into the car as well.

Fabio managed to save himself by jumping out of the car and clinging to a tree. However, when Desiree tried to do the same, she failed and was swept away in the vehicle. Her body was later found a couple of miles away.

The car they had been travelling in was also found, about an hour earlier, on the river bed.

Desiree was from the nearby town of Stio, but had been living in Albanella with her partner, Cosimo. Local media report that she was popular and well-liked in the town.

Desiree and Cosimo had been planning to get married this year. However, they postponed their wedding plans, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Desiree’s body has been handed over to her family ahead of her funeral.

The mayor of Albanella, Rosolino Bagini, declared a day of mourning yesterday (8 October). He said: “There was a huge influx of water, the level rose so much and so quickly that it went over the bridges. The whole territory has been hit causing considerable damage, several trees were brought down and there were several rockfalls. It is a huge tragedy.”

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