by Donald Wood
Last updated: 3:45 PM ET, Tue January 17, 2017
On Sunday night, two Brazilian tourists were seriously injured after they fell from an entry gate while trespassing at the Colosseum in Rome.
According to The Local, police and emergency personnel were called to the Colosseum at 3 a.m. local time after friends of the injured men were forced to call the authorities. The two trespassers were taken to a local hospital. The two Brazilin tourists fell almost 14 feet off the entry gate, with one man suffering full body bruises and the other fracturing his pelvis. The man with the fractured pelvis is expected to be in the hospital for several weeks.
Both men face trespassing charges and could be facing jail time if convicted.
The Italian court system has levied heavier punishments on tourists and locals who trespass on or vandalize historic sites due to a recent string of inappropriate behavior from visitors across the country.
At the Colosseum alone, graffiti was found on a column Monday that had to be covered while preservationists assess the damage. In September 2015, an Austrian woman was arrested and charged with aggravated damage of a building of historic and artistic interest after she carved the letters "M.D.S" into a pillar.
In 2014, a 15-year-old Canadian student stole a brick from the Colosseum during a class field trip and hid it in her backpack, but she was caught by police and the brick was returned to its location.
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