3 brothers suffer heart attacks at same time

Doctors are investigating after three Italian brothers suffered near-simultaneous heart attacks – two of them fatal.

Guido Garofalo, 45 and his brother Alberto Mario, 53, were on a picnic yesterday with their wives and children on the slopes of Mount Etna, near Catania, on the island of Sicily.

First to have a heart attack was Guido, who collapsed to the ground. As Alberto Mario tried to save him, he, too, grabbed at his chest. Paramedics were immediately called but both were declared dead by the helicopter crew that arrived to help.

The terrible coincidence continued as it emerged that, at the same time, a third brother, Salvatore, 57, had suffered a heart attack as he visited their mother in hospital.

Doctors and nurses went to his aid. He was last night recovering in intensive care, with staff saying the fact he was in hospital when he had the attack had “probably saved his life”.

He has not been informed of his brothers’ deaths, and a sister who lives in Rome and who is known to suffer from a heart condition has also not been told.

Dr Thekia Maurhoff, of the Garibaldi hospital in Catania, said: “All three cases are being investigated – it is quite unique and I have never heard of anything like this happening.

“From initial checks, it would appear that all three brothers suffered from a heart condition and this led to them all suffering attacks, virtually at the same time, and in two cases they proved to be fatal.

“Salvatore is in a stable condition in the intensive care unit of the hospital and his condition is being closely monitored, but the fact he was in hospital at the time certainly helped save his life.”

Professor Filippo Crea, an expert at the cardiology unit of Rome’s Cattolica University, said: “Genetic factors almost certainly played a part in this tragic event as heart attacks in those aged under 60 are usually caused for those reasons.”