Silvio Berlusconi collapsed during speech

Italy's richest man, the business tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, after some 40 minutes of railing against Premier Romano Prodi's center-left government, Berlusconi, who leads the conservative opposition, suddenly started speaking slowly, looked weak and told a partisan crowd in the spa resort of Montecatini Terme: "And now, excuse me, emotion is getting the better of me, and I ..." His voice trailed off, and he gripped the podium for support as he leaned back.

There are some opinions about this collapse by various people and media:

"Silvio Berlusconi had a strong drop in blood pressure, he's much better now," his spokesman, Paolo Bonaiuti, told RAI state TV.

Berlusconi said that he had been taking antibiotics after a knee operation, ANSA news agency reported.

"Now they want to do some tests" Berlusconi was quoted as saying. "They found something in the electrocardiogram, various extra systoles."

A systole is the contraction of the heart by which blood is forced onward for circulation.

A Berlusconi supporter, former Chamber of Deputies speaker Irene Pivetti, told the crowd that Berlusconi had "fallen ill because of the tension, because of the emotion" of the speech.

Bonaiuti told Sky TG24 TV, which covered the speech live, "The worst is over" and that Berlusconi was "sorry he couldn't finish the speech," the spokesman said.

New comment:

Name:
Comment:

• About Notelay
• Advertise
• 
• 
•