Commissioner finds dead son in Amatrice

(ANSA) - Rome, August 26 - Frosinone police commissioner Filippo Santarelli has revealed that he found the body of his son Marco in Amatrice after rushing to the Lazio town from Rome following a deadly 6.2-magnitude earthquake on August 24.
    Santarelli told Milan daily Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Friday that he was in Rome when the quake struck but decided to immediately drive to Amatrice because his young son, who was holidaying at the family home there with two friends, wasn't answering his cell phone. The commissioner said he was helped by police officers and volunteers to remove rubble and stones at the family home and was hopeful his son had survived as both his friends and his cat were unhurt.
    At around midday on Thursday he said that someone saw his body.
    "I was right there but they took me away - they didn't know what condition the body would be in", he said.
    Santarelli said he had spoken to his son the previous night and he sounded happy.
    "His dream was to become a chef", he said.
    "He was happy because he had started working at a restaurant near Frosinone".
    Marco Santarelli was buried Friday in Rome.
    Frosinone is a city between Rome and Naples.
    It is one of Lazio's four provincial capitals alongside Rome.
    The others are Latina, Viterbo and Rieti, whose province suffered the worst from the quake that has killed at least 267 people. photo: Marco Santarelli's funeral