BUENOS AIRES: Diego Maradona has offered a $10,000 reward to identify the source of reports he had died after Argentina’s World Cup match against Nigeria, his lawyer said Thursday.
The reports, circulated via WhatsApp voice messages from a man with an Argentine accent, said the 57-year-old star had been hospitalized and had died of cardiac arrest.
“I gave instructions to make public the decision to offer a reward of 300,000 pesos (around $10,000) to anyone who can provide true and accurate information about the author of the audios,” lawyer Matias Morla told Argentina’s Clarin daily from Russia.
The Argentine star took ill at the end of the match and had to be helped from his seat.
But he denied rumors of ill health the day after, telling reporters: “I’m perfect. I’ve never been better.”
Morla said Maradona had suffered “a spike” in blood pressure.
“It’s a subject that at one time alarmed him. It’s no secret how he lives through a game. How he lived them as a player is how he lives them as a fan.”
According to Morla, Maradona shouldn’t even have been at the stadium for the second half of the game, in which a late goal secured Argentina’s World Cup.
“The doctors told him to rest, not to stay for the second half of the Argentina-Nigeria match, but asking that of Maradona is like asking a son not to love his mother.”
“For Diego, the team is Dona Tota (his mother), and he will never let her on her own,” he said.
The audio messages spread on social media after the match.
“Maradona’s sisters heard the news, they could not communicate with me nor with their brother, and one of them suffered a weakness, and the truth is that we cannot let such an outrage go by,” Morla told Clarin.
Angry Maradona offers reward over ‘death’ report
Angry Maradona offers reward over ‘death’ report
- Lawyer Matias Morla: “I gave instructions to make public the decision to offer a reward of 300,000 pesos (around $10,000) to anyone who can provide true and accurate information about the author of the audios.”
- Matias Morla: “Maradona’s sisters heard the news, they could not communicate with me nor with their brother, and one of them suffered a weakness, and the truth is that we cannot let such an outrage go by.”
Small dog sole survivor of Peru helicopter crash that killed 15
- Rescue workers found the caramel-colored dog among the twisted wreckage of the Mi-17 helicopter
- Local media reported that the dog appeared OK, but as a precaution was taken to a veterinary clinic
LIMA: The only survivor of a military helicopter crash in southern Peru that killed 15 people was a small dog belonging to a colonel who was among the passengers, an air force source told AFP Tuesday.
Rescue workers found the caramel-colored dog among the twisted wreckage of the Mi-17 helicopter that crashed Sunday. It was lying next to the body of its owner, Col. Javier Nole, 50, who was on board with his wife and two daughters.
“It’s Col. Nole’s pet; it’s the only survivor,” the source, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
Local media reported that the dog appeared OK, but as a precaution was taken to a veterinary clinic.
Seven children were among the 15 fatalities when the Russian-made aircraft crashed in the Arequipa region. The helicopter had been recently deployed in rescue operations for victims of floods there.
It had taken off from the city of Pisco, in the Ica region. Rescuers located the wreckage on Monday just over 300 kilometers (186 miles) away near Chala Viejo, a town close to the Pacific coast in Arequipa.
The air force has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.
