Rugby participant, 16, discovered lifeless in canal after heartbreaking last phrases to his mum

A 16-year-old rugby player was found dead in a canal after a heartbreaking final exchange with his mum and a tragic garbled voice message sent to a friend.

Dario Cipullo had said goodbye to his parents and gone to a flat for dinner with his rugby team-mates on Friday night, December 19. “Don’t wait up for me, I’ll be late,” he told his mother. The players’ Christmas dinner ended around 1am and Dario later went missing, prompting a search in the city of Novara, near Milan in Italy.

Yesterday (Sunday, December 21) at around noon, after fog lifted, the search concluded when a fire brigade helicopter discovered the body of the Novega Rugby Under-18 team star floating in a canal. Police are now interviewing witnesses to reconstruct the teenager’s last hours.

Initial reports suggest Dario had consumed one glass too many during dinner, as did some of his team-mates. He was driven home by a friend’s father but got out about 40m from his house.

Before his phone went dead, he reportedly sent a voice message to a friend, but it was barely understandable. Investigators believe the most likely explanation is that he slipped and drowned, as reported by NeedToKnow.

A post-mortem will be carried out today, Monday, December 22, to determine whether he died from water inhalation or other causes. The man who dropped him off told authorities that Dario himself asked to be let out just before his house.

Prosecutor Giuseppe Ferrando said: “It is all still premature, and at this stage there are no suspects.”

The alarm was raised by Dario’s parents, who became concerned when his phone switched off shortly before 2am on Saturday. His heartbroken mother, Lorena, said: “He never does that.”

Strangely, the spot where he was found – near a motorway exit – is about 2.5 miles from where he was dropped off in Novara. Some witnesses reported seeing him walking towards the motorway that night.

Family friend Marina Chiarelli, speaking on behalf of Dario’s parents, said: “We’re all trying to understand what happened, but what seems clear is that this was not a deliberate act.

“What is unclear is why Dario ended up at that exact spot. No one can explain it.” Dario was a student at a technical high school and played in the under-18 team of the Rugby NoVeGa club.

Sergio Manto of the Italian Rugby Federation paid tribute to the young star. He said: “Dario, just sixteen-years-old, leaves an immense void.

“Not only for those who knew and loved him, but for the entire rugby community. Which today mourns a boy who embodied the truest values of our sport: respect, commitment, passion, and a sense of belonging.”

“We like to believe,” wrote the Amatori Rugby Novara club on Facebook, “that Dario is cheering us on and watching us from up there, along with the other friends who passed the ball.”

Yesterday evening, before the Serie C football match between Novara FC and Ospitaletto at the Piola stadium in Novara, a minute’s silence was observed in Dario’s memory.