The suspicious death file was closed on October 18, 2022 by a prosecutor from the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Sinaia Court, but the decision was contested by the superior hierarchical magistrate, who asked the court for permission to reopen the investigation.
He fell 120 meters into the void
Fabio Gomez, 35 years old, originally from Portugal, was struck by lightning on a difficult route in Bucegi, between Bucșoiu Peak and Omu Peak, during a mountain ascent organized on July 17, 2022. The young man was a mountaineer with experience and was training for a complex Himalayan expedition.
He had recently settled in Romania and, because he did not know Bucegii very well, he turned to an alpine club which had announced that it was organizing the trip to Vârful Omu for a fee.
The young Portuguese man climbed the mountain with 16 other people, tourists, plus the paid mountain guide. The sky was cloudy since the morning, and towards lunchtime, severe weather warnings came true. A strong storm, accompanied by electrical discharges, affected the Bucegi area. Despite the severe weather conditions, the trip was not cancelled, the organizers ignoring, show some information, including the weather alerts sent through the RO-Alert system.
In the middle of the storm, Fabio Gomez was struck by lightning, fell 120 meters into the void and collapsed at the base of Văia Bucșoiului, his head injuries being fatal. His body was recovered with difficulty by a team of mountain rescuers only the next day.
The dead tourist’s mother contested the ranking
Prosecutors in Sinaia opened a criminal case for manslaughter at that time. Research has established that Fabio Gomez stopped several times during the hike to take photos, thus constantly falling behind the group. The moment he was struck by lightning was seen by one of the route partners, who called 112.
Three months after the opening of the criminal investigations, the prosecutor from the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Sinaia Court, which investigated the suspicious death of the Portuguese tourist, decided to close the file, establishing that the act is not provided for by the criminal law or was not committed with the prescribed guilt by law.
Checking the classification solution ordered by the case prosecutor as a result of the complaint made by the Portuguese’s mother, the first prosecutor assessed that it is not founded “considering that the criminal investigation is not complete and the necessary evidence has not been exhausted for the criminal investigation to be finished”.
The prosecutor only questioned the potential culprits
The prosecutor who initially conducted the investigations is criticized for not interviewing the witnesses of the tragedy, namely the other tourists who were with Fabio Gomez on the route.
Their testimonies are essential, because they can provide relevant details to the case regarding the events of July 17, 2022, according to the documents of the file that ordered the reopening of the criminal investigation. The classification of the case was based only on the explanations given by the trip organizers, considered subjective, as long as they were at fault, not having a mountain guide certificate at the time of organizing the expedition.
“It is to be analyzed whether there was the quality of guide of the person who recommended himself as an authority, related to the date of the alleged act, respectively 16.07.2022 and to the dates on which he obtained his national certificate, respectively 29.07.2022, and the certificate for mountain guide, on 20.03.2023.
In the context in which he did not have a mountain guide certificate, he obviously did not have the ability to interpret weather data, being one of the elements of the crime of manslaughter that should have been investigated, i.e. if the mountain guide as as a professional, he took all the necessary measures to avoid this unfortunate event, in relation to the active obligation to take all the necessary steps in order to organize the expedition safely”, the documents of the file state.
The organizers are also accused of not following the specific rules of a mountain expedition, namely that the pace is set by the slowest member of the group“which means that it could not be invoked and what the criminal investigation bodies initially retained, such as that the deceased person was the one who moved much too slowly”.
“The investigation was not complete”
In justifying the decision to reopen the criminal investigation, the magistrate of the Sinaia Court found that the investigation was carried out superficially, many aspects that led to the death of the Portuguese tourist being unclear.
“It was correctly shown that the criminal investigation bodies did not hear as witnesses all the people who were part of the group that accompanied the victim.
Thus, in order to remove the human factor from the causal chain that caused the death, it was necessary to establish all the elements that could contribute to producing the result, elements that cannot be analyzed only through the version offered by two of the organizers of the expedition.
Therefore, it was necessary, on the one hand, to hear the people who were in the victim’s area at the time of the electric shock in order to clarify the conditions that led to the fall into the ravine, but on the other hand, to clarify the way in which the expedition was organized on the mountain” , it is stated in the reasoning of the court.
Photo deleted from Facebook
The day after the tragedy in Bucșoiu, the mountain club that organized the expedition deleted the post in which the photo of the group that included Fabio was presented.
“Today a tragedy happened. We are all grieving. The picture of the group on the tour to Bucşoiu was deleted from the page out of respect for the family and friends of the deceased. May God forgive him!”, is the message written on the Facebook account of the trip organizer.
The netizens then criticized the club for not canceling the expedition, despite the fact that the weather forecast showed very clearly that on July 16, 2022 there would be a storm with electrical discharges, and there was no possibility of shelter on the route where the tragedy happened.
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Tags: Suspicious Death Portuguese Tourist Bucegi Investigation Reopened Months Climber Dies
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