Italian tourist dead in Amsterdam canal incident identified as amateur footballer

The Italian tourist who died after falling into a canal in Amsterdam was the captain of an amateur soccer club in the region of Parma, several Italian media reported. He was in Amsterdam on vacation with a group of friends.

According to various Italian media outlets, the victim was identified as Gabriele "Gallo" Gallani. The 24-year-old from Neviano degli Arduini in the province of Parma was an engineering student at the University of Parma and the captain of an amateur football team. He had been vacationing in Amsterdam with a group of eight friends since Wednesday.

Gallani was planning to return to Italy on Saturday morning to participate in a football match on Sunday with his football team. The game has since been postponed.

"It's hard to find the words for what happened, maybe the right ones are GOODBYE and THANK YOU, but we're not sure. You came here when you were just a boy, and you became one of our pillars, the only thing we can do right now is to keep your memory alive. There's no point in saying anything else at the moment. Ciao Gallo," his football club wrote on Facebook.

The accident happened during the night from Friday into Saturday. Emergency services were alerted around 12:35 a.m. about an individual who had fallen into the water at the Kloveniersburgwal. In response, dispatchers sent the police, a fire department diving team, and at least two ambulances to the location. Shortly thereafter, a trauma team was airlifted to the area.

Divers from the fire department located the victim in the water. He was transported to the hospital by ambulance, where he died hours later.

Details regarding how he ended up in the water remain unclear. Investigators are looking for witnesses who might provide more information on how the victim ended up in the water. They also call people with camera footage from RingMyDoorbell to come forward.

Any photo or video footage can be uploaded directly to the police's website here.