A 51-year-old business tycoon and father has drowned after flipping a Lamborghini he had purchased just days earlier into a canal in Italy. Luca Polito, 51, from Concordia Sagittaria in northern Italy, was driving his Lamborghini Gallardo through his hometown when he lost control of the high-performance vehicle.
The supercar soon flipped onto its roof before landing in the irrigation canal, located beside the road, quickly filling up with water and mud. Mr Polito and his passenger, a friend of the businessman, were trapped inside the vehicle, which was submerged in 28cm of water, whilst other road users nearby phoned for emergency services. Whilst rescuers were able to free Mr Polito’s passenger, who was rushed to a nearby hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, the businessman was unresponsive upon being released. Emergency services pronounced Mr Polito dead at the scene.
Speaking to Italian media, the owners of Mr Polito’s favourite restaurant in Concordia Sagittaria said the businessman and father of one was a particularly supportive figure in the area.
They explained: “He was a special person – kind, thoughtful. He was always there when someone needed help.”
The town’s mayor, Claudio Odorico, also noted that the loss of the tycoon would be a ‘heavy blow’ to Concordia Sagittaria.
The white Lamborghini Gallardo, a 200-mph supercar with an average secondhand value of nearly £90,000, was recovered from the canal days after the incident.
Detectives are currently working to determine whether the crash was caused by a mechanical fault or human error that caused Mr Polito to lose control.
Mr Polito was survived by his parents and was the last of his siblings to die. His two brothers both passed away due to serious illness. The business tycoon had both a wife and a child.