A rugby player, architects among Argentine NY attack victims
The Argentines killed in the Tuesday truck attack in lower Manhattan were in New York celebrating the 30th anniversary of their graduation from high school. Several were architects, and one was a rugby player.
The victims all grew up in Rosario, Argentina's third most populous city, and graduated from the city's prestigious Politecnico de Rosario secondary school.
There were ten Argentines in the group cycling on the bikeway. Five were killed and one was injured.
Those killed are:
- Ariel Erlij, 48: A successful steel industry businessman, Erlij was one of the trip organizers, and contributed money for plane tickets. He lived in Funes, located near Rosario.
- Alejandro Damian Pagnucco, 49: An architect nicknamed "Picho," Pagnucco is survived by his wife and three daughters. His friends and teachers remember him as being friendly and jovial.
- Hernan Ferruchi, 48: An architect who graduated from the prestigious National University of Rosario, Ferruchi's work includes apartment buildings in the exclusive Puerto Norte neighborhood of Rosario, on the banks of the Parana river.
- Diego Angelini, 48: Angelini worked for a well known architectural firm in Rosario.
- Hernan Mendoza, 48: Mendoza, also an architect, once represented Argentina at a South American Championships in Athletics event. He also formerly played with the amateur Duendes rugby club. He leaves a son and two daughters.
The Argentine national wounded in the attack was Martin Ludovico Marro, 48. A biotechnologist, he lived in Boston with his wife and two children.
One of the Argentine friends who survived the attack, Ariel Benvenuto, gave details of the attack to his wife Cecilia Piedrabuena in a phone call.
The 10 friends "were all on bicycles, in groups of two, chatting," she told radio station LT8.
Benvenuto "heard a car accelerating and a vehicle that drove over his five friends, driving at 150 kilometers per hour," Piedrabuena told LT8.