A TWO-year-old boy tragically died after he was strangled by his sweatshirt in a nursery garden.
The freak accident killed Leonardo Ricci in a matter of seconds – to the horror of his playschool carers in Bibbiena, near Arezzo, central Italy.
At around 11:30am, the lad was running around the lawn of the Ambarabà Ciccì Coccò nursery.
While playing near a tree, part of his sweatshirt got tangled around a branch.
Moments later, Leonardo was not breathing.
Distraught nursery workers called the emergency services who rushed to the scene.
Medics gave CPR for over an hour trying to revive the boy, but with no success, La Stampa reported.
Tragically, the young boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
An air ambulance was en route from a nearby hospital but it was too late.
Police evacuated the nursery and set up a cordon around the harrowing scene.
Footage from the scene shows groups of locals weeping at the gates as the community comes to terms with the terrible loss.
Bibbiena’s mayor, Filippo Vagnoli, visited to show solidarity with those affected and channel the community’s grief.
The nursery will remain closed until at least next week to allow the investigation to run its course.
Prosecutors have opened a manslaughter case.
The Koiné cooperative, which manages the nursery, said: “We have no words that can soothe the excruciating pain of the parents and family of the child who lost his life this morning.
“The tragedy is also our grief, because we feel the children who greet us with a smile every morning as our own.
“Our staff, shocked and distraught by the tragedy, have made themselves available to the investigators.”
