“Private School Headteacher Mourns Tragic Loss of 14-Year-Old Student in Skiing Accident in Italy”

Tributes have poured in for a 14-year-old British schoolboy who died in a horrific skiing accident while on a half-term holiday with his family in the Dolomites in northern Italy.

Matthew Leggatt, from Bristol, lost his balance and crashed as he went down a red slope in the Cortina d’Ampezzo resort on Saturday morning, authorities said.

The teenager was a Year 9 pupil at the Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School (QEH), with pupils at the independent school being informed of his death as they returned from half term.

Rupert Heathcote, the school’s head teacher, told the Bristol Post: ‘Our community is deeply saddened and we are concentrating on supporting our pupils and staff.’

The boy was wearing a helmet, officials said, but is understood to have suffered severe chest injuries after losing control on the slopes and crashing into a tree.

Paramedics desperately fought to save him for more than half an hour using a defibrillator, but he was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.

His devastated parents watched in anguish as emergency responders battled in vain to revive their son, according to reports from Italian media.

A local police spokesman confirmed: ‘The boy lost control of his skis and crashed into a tree next to the piste. No one else was involved.’ 

A British schoolboy, 14, suffered severe chest injuries after losing control on the slopes and crashing into a tree on the Falzarego red run, an intermediate-level slope spanning 3.5km from Lagazuoi toward Col Gallina (stock photo) 

The accident happened on the Falzarego red run, an intermediate-level slope spanning 3.5km from Lagazuoi toward Col Gallina. 

Witnesses say the boy had built up significant speed before hitting a dip that launched him forward uncontrollably, sending him crashing into a tree at high impact.

Francesco Cataldo Giorgi, vice president of the Happy Ski school in Cortina, described the tragic event as ‘a matter of cruel bad luck.’

‘Had he fallen just a few metres earlier or later, he may have escaped unharmed. 

‘But in this sport, one wrong fall in the wrong place can be fatal. 

‘We must always exercise extreme caution,’ he told Corriere del Veneto.

The family had been holidaying in the Bolzano region with two other families and had only just begun their day’s skiing when the tragedy unfolded at around 9:30am.

Now, grief-stricken, the boy’s parents are receiving medical and psychological support as they face the devastating task of repatriating their son’s body back to the UK.

The teenager was a Year 9 pupil at the Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital School (file image)

‘I am deeply sorry for this English boy and, both personally and as a municipal administration, we are close to the family affected by this immense tragedy’, the mayor of Cortina, Gianluca Lorenzi, said.

Investigators are now working to determine whether any hidden dangers or unusual features on the slope may have played a role in the heart-wrenching accident.

It follows the death of a British skier in the French Alps earlier this month.

The 23-year-old, who has not been publicly named, was found dead at the bottom of a cliff after reportedly falling from a height while returning from an après ski party in Avoriaz.

It is believed that he had been skiing with friends before attending a party in the popular resort, which is above the town of Morzine, and then became lost when trying to ski down the mountain alone.

Friends reported his disappearance when he did not return home, prompting a desperate search by rescue teams.

Police believe he became lost on the difficult slopes and took off his skis before the incident.