A report from the Florida Highway Patrol is shedding light on an accident that claimed the lives of two motorcyclists Thursday morning on Interstate 75 in Marion County.
Two men from Italy riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles had been northbound at 9:47 a.m. on I-75 at Mile Marker 343 when they encountered traffic which had slowed ahead of them.
Bruno Di Cosimo, 55, of Torino, Italy, lost control of his motorcycle and laid it down. His companion, Franceso Vitagliano, also of Torino, Italy, lost control of his motorcycle as he tried to avoid hitting Di Cosimo’s motorcycle. Vitagliano also laid down his motorcycle. Each man was thrown from his motorcycle into the center lane of traffic where they were struck by a tractor trailer truck driven by 66-year-old Rudolph Henriques of Lauderhill.
The trailer towed by Henriques’ truck then struck a 2018 Subaru Forrester driven by 50-year-old Ralph Plato of Casselberry.
Di Cosimo and Vitagliano died at the scene. Both men had been wearing helmets.
Henriques and Plato escaped injury.