Fatal fire in Vevey (VD)
“Michele was more than a friend, he was a brother”
A Neapolitan cook lost his life in the fire that occurred overnight from Thursday to Friday in a neighborhood near the train station in Vevey. His best friend, confidant and compatriot testifies.
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Abdoulaye Penda Ndiaye
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The two Neapolitan cooks Michele (left) and Massimo were very close. They spoke on the phone a few hours before the fatal fire.
DR
Before joining us in this café-restaurant full of character located in the neighborhood where his best friend perished in the flames, Massimo is on the phone for a long time. “I couldn’t tell you about Michele, without having permission from her family. It’s done,” he sighs, his eyes reddened.
As soon as he sits down his phone rings. “Pronto”, replies the slender Italian cook. “It’s a call from Naples. The person says they don’t believe in death from Michelle. She wants me to tell her it’s wrong,” he explains.
The phone rings again. The code +39 is displayed on the screen. Massimo tries to console the caller. He hangs up, silences his phone and begins to talk about his connection to the missing person. Neapolitan, like him. Cook, like him. Resident of Vevey, like him.
Countless photos
Massimo picks up the phone. Not to answer a call. He scrolls through the photos. The decor changes but not the atmosphere, always friendly. Two men on the lake, knowing smiles on their lips. Grilling. Together at a festive evening. With family. “Michele was more than a friend, he was a brother. When I stayed a few days without seeing him, it was my 8-year-old daughter who demanded his presence, ”he notes with emotion.
In Italy to renew his passport
If in the Neapolitan community of Vevey, the thirty-year-old who perished in the flames is described as a man undermined by his estrangement from his daughter who lives in Naples, Massimo underlines that his friend was not depressed. “He died overnight from Thursday to Friday. I called him on Thursday afternoon believing that he was still in Naples, where he had gone to see his daughter and his relatives but also to renew his passport. I wanted him to bring me some products from there. But he was already back,” says Massimo. “When I called him, he was at work, in a restaurant in Savigny. He told me that he had taken the plane, then the train and that he had returned to Vevey at midnight and started work at 7 a.m., ”he continues.
“He had planned to move to Canada next month. He had received a promise of employment. He was to find a Frenchwoman there whom he knew in Vevey.
Massimo, best friend of the man who died in the fire
According to Massimo, Michele had a very short-term project. “He had planned to move to Canada next month. He had received a promise of employment. He was to find a Frenchwoman there whom he knew in Vevey and who now lives in Quebec. Michele was telling me he was in love with her.”
Michele’s Facebook profile picture reads: “Your past is your life lesson. Your present is your current experience. Your future is your motivation.”
According to our information, a local resident was awakened by a burning smell around 1:30 a.m. on the night of Thursday to Friday. “He went back to bed because he didn’t see anything even though it smelled strong,” notes a relative. Less than ten minutes later, the flames had reached the apartment of a Brazilian woman located on the ground floor of a four-storey building. During the intervention, the emergency services would have tried to reach the tenant on the telephone. “She is on vacation in Brazil. She had sublet a room to Michele,” says a local resident. “The firefighters broke down the apartment door. Michele was very badly burned. They covered him with bandages and gave him cardiac massage. Later, a medical examiner came to certify the death, ”explains a neighbor.