The ambulance driver has reportedly not yet been arrested, but was suspended by the Italian Red Cross
Credit: Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- The Forli prosecutor’s office in Italy has launched a criminal investigation into a 27-year-old ambulance driver after five people that he transported for non-emergency services died
- The deaths happened between February and November 2025, and the latest incident involved an 85-year-old woman who was being transported from a cardiac hospital to a rehab center
- The man’s defense attorney said he is “shocked by what is emerging” and claims he is innocent
A 27-year-old ambulance driver in Italy is under criminal investigation after being suspected of killing five patients.
A spokesperson for the Forli prosecutor’s office in Italy said an investigation was launched after five elderly people who were transported by a non-emergency ambulance driver by the man died between February and November 2025, according to CNN, U.K. newspaper The Guardian and Italian news agency Ansa.
The patients reportedly all suffered cardiac arrests. They had previously been treated for serious illnesses and died during non-emergency transportation services between their homes or nursing care facilities and hospitals and clinics, the prosecutor’s office said, per the outlets.
The latest patient who died was identified as an 85-year-old woman who was being transported from a cardiac hospital to a rehab center, according to CNN and Ansa. She suffered a cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead in the man's ambulance, the outlets reported.
Credit: Getty
An autopsy was carried out, and the findings led the investigation to be transferred from the police to the prosecutor’s office, according to CNN. It was unclear what was discovered in the autopsy.
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Police told CNN that all the patients’ deaths occurred during transportation or shortly after, while the suspect was in the back of the ambulance. The prosecutor’s office spokesperson said, per the outlet, that “the deaths may have occurred by means of poisonous substances or other insidious means.”
Credit: Getty
The ambulance driver — who was part of a two-person team that switched between driving patients and administering care to the patients — has not been identified and has not yet been arrested, according to CNN.
Investigative sources told Ansa that the driver — a 27-year-old man — worked for the Italian Red Cross, and has since been suspended following the investigation.
The Italian Red Cross told The Guardian in a statement that it had “learned with shock of the reports concerning the involvement of one of our operators in a serious criminal matter” and the organization hoped that the investigation would shed light on what happened.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Forli prosecutor’s office and the Italian Red Cross for comment on this case, but did not immediately receive responses.
The man’s defense attorney, Gloria Parigi, told CNN that her client had worked for the ambulance service since 2023.
“He is shocked by what is emerging,” she told local media, per CNN. “He proclaims his innocence in a matter that has turned his life upside down. He has made himself available to the judicial authorities because he has nothing to hide. This is why he has requested a hearing by the prosecutor’s office.”
The Forli prosecutor’s office told CNN that the ambulance driver could be charged with voluntary multiple homicide this week.
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