Extensive searches: the husband of the minister in Italy disappeared in the lake

At least three days after he disappeared, rescue forces in Italy continue today (Tuesday) to search for Luigi Cavalleri, the 84-year-old husband of Italy’s family minister Eugenia Rochelle, who has been missing since Saturday after jumping into the waters of Lake Vico in the province of Lazio.

According to reports, Cavalleri, an engineer and academic, went down into the water to cool off amid the heat wave that is hitting Italy. Shortly after jumping into the water he surfaced, he said he was not feeling well, but the boat the couple were in, which was not anchored, was swept away by the current. Those present were unable to reach him in time and he disappeared in the water.

Rochella is the one who called the rescue forces after her husband did not return to the surface of the water. The couple went boating on the lake that day to spend time together, and when Cavalry went in for a swim he was never seen again.

Search operations continue without success. They are carried out using divers, remotely operated unmanned underwater vehicles, sonar systems, aerial and underwater scanning drones, as well as underwater robots. Divers also joined the search, and in addition a special unmanned underwater vehicle was brought. The rescue teams even conducted a simulation using a service boat to recreate the movement of the boat at the time of the incident.

According to reports, the search is particularly complicated due to almost zero visibility already at a depth of four meters.

Luigi Cavalieri is a university professor in the fields of architecture and construction engineering. For years he served as a lecturer in architectural technology, and during his academic career he held a series of positions, including director of the department of technologies of the built environment and head of the curriculum in construction engineering.

Cavalleri has been married to Sarah Eugenia Rochelle since 1976. The couple celebrated 50 years of marriage last March, and they have two children. In the past, the minister said that she met her husband when she was 18 years old and since then, according to her, “we have never separated”.

The extensive efforts to locate him also provoked offensive reactions on social networks, where the scope of the searches and the resources were criticized. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney strongly condemned the words and called them “abhorrent and inhumane”. Defense Minister Guido Crosto also condemned the reactions and said that these are “attacks that go beyond any limit of respect for human suffering”.