MILAN (AP) — A security guard at a construction site near a 2026 Winter Olympics location in the mountain resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo died during a freezing night shift, authorities confirmed Saturday.
Italian Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini called for a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 55-year-old worker’s death.
Italian media reported that the death occurred on Thursday while the worker was on duty at a construction site near Cortina’s ice arena.
Temperatures dropped to minus 12 degrees Celsius (10.4 degrees Fahrenheit) that night.
Milan Cortina organizers said the worker died of a heart attack.
“The information we have is that it was a death from natural causes, it was a heart attack. And we are investigating it,” Andrea Varnier, CEO of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, told reporters at a test event in the new hockey arena in Milan.
“All the documentation we have was in order. And we are waiting for the investigation to understand what the specific cause was. At the moment, the information we have from the emergency services is that it was a death caused by natural causes… while he was on the scene,” Varnier said.
The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are scheduled from February 6 to 22.
The construction site was not supervised by Simico, the government company responsible for the Olympic infrastructure, the company said in a statement expressing its condolences.
Cortina city officials said they were “deeply saddened and disturbed by the death.” Cortina will host women’s curling, slide and alpine skiing.
