(ANSA) – Naples, July 6 – A tourist guide died at Pompeii last month after a squabble with rivals, union sources reported Monday.

The dead man was identified as F.C., 84, one of the so-called ”historic” guides at the Ancient Roman site. Guides are becoming more aggressive in their bids for customers at the buried city, the UGL union said.

Long-established guides like the late F.C. were having to defend their turf from unauthorised upstarts, it said. ”They’re like dogs around a bone,” said the UGL’s culture pointman, Renato Petra.

”If two of them get in a bidding war things can turn nasty and then you get something like what happened three weeks ago: one of them falls, breaks his leg and dies”.

The union urged Pompeii authorities to regulate the sector.

UGL provincial secretary Francesco Falco said guides should receive formal authorisation and tariffs should be set.

Pompeii, buried by Vesuvius in 79 AD, attracts almost three million visitors a year.

Original article