Ercolano, baby in danger of life: Carabinieri heroes save the little one with a desperate rush to the hospital

The street is still stained from the morning rain. Among the cobblestones, the gray of the buildings reflected in the puddles of water. A few cars pass too quickly and erase that mirror. Passersby quickly shift their gaze to calculate the trajectory that separates their pants from that mud.

It's 14.30pm in progress ResinaThe climate is cool, with the sun about to resume its downward curve and the thermometer oscillating between 9 and 10 degrees.

The gate of the Ercolano Carabinieri station opens slowly. The female marshal has just turned on the engine and headlights of her car. The shift is over and a day of rest is finally in sight. He waits for the gate parade, drumming on the steering wheel. From the interior mirror a glance at the uniform to be taken to the dry cleaners. A few leaves have settled on the windshield wipers, better remove them.

He comes out of the cockpit and that's when hear screaming. The voice arrives from a pizzeria on the opposite sidewalk. He knows that man and he knows her two-year-old little oneThe first one has a face torn by pain, the baby has a purple face. He is suffocating. His eyes are half-closed, his arms are dangling. The marshal, the car still on and a yellowed leaf stuck to his hands, runs towards them.

A terrible scene, a Pietà carved in flesh and bones. Dad asks for help. More relatives crowd the street. The onlookers are growing and some are craning their necks from their cars to see what is happening. It is still unclear. It is all so fast. The marshal takes the child in his arms. Someone tells her that he's not breathing.

Start giving him the Heimlich maneuver., thinking he had something blocking his throat. Nothing. No sign. He asks the others present to call 118 and in the meantime continueEndless minutes pass, no sign of the ambulance.

He runs back to the barracks, asks another marshal for help that he had just mounted. He also attempts the rescue maneuver but what the baby rejects is only bolus and mucus.

Some people talk about fever, about a antipyretic just taken. Adrenaline accelerates thought and meanwhile the ambulance siren is not heard. So the two non-commissioned officers decide to jump into the marshal's car. They'll think about the leaves later. The tires screech and a frantic race begins, with father and son in the back seats. “Please help me“, he repeats.

The gearbox will not see higher gears than third and the approximately 5 kilometers to the Maresca hospital in Torre del Greco will be covered in just over 3 minutes. Without a siren, without flashing lights. With the marshal on the passenger side yelling out the window to clear the way for his colleague with her foot pressed on the accelerator and her arms outstretched. The navigator recalculates the route like a tape, confused by that wrong forecast that assumed a trip of over 10 minutes.

The emergency room is in sight. The little boy is still unconscious but will end up in the arms of the doctors immediately. It seems to be a an allergic reaction so they move him to Santobono, by ambulance.

These will be hours of anguish but they will pass quickly. The child was saved. The rescue was prompt and he is fine.. Of that afternoon there will remain only the joy of seeing the relief of a family and that phrase that is worth more than a medal: "You are angels".