Victim of hammock accident mourned

LYNN -- Ramadan Smrqaku, 20, said he didn't think much of it when he sat on a hammock Friday in Beverly where two of his friends were lying. The hammock was tied to a tree and an old chimney.

''It couldn't hold everyone," said Smrqaku, speaking with an accent from his native Kosovo. ''The chimney wasn't built good, and it collapsed."

The 5-foot chimney at a friend's home on Cogswell Avenue toppled quickly about 10:45 p.m., Smrqaku said. There was no time to jump from the hammock, he said, describing how one of the cinder blocks struck his friend's head, knocking Visar Luzha unconscious.

''He couldn't talk or breathe," Smrqaku said. ''He was bleeding all over. It was really scary."

Shortly later, Luzha, 19, who survived civil war in Kosovo, was pronounced dead at Beverly Hospital -- less than four years after he arrived in America with his parents, three sisters, and four brothers. He had hoped to build a better life for himself. Now, his parents will be bringing his body back to the Kacanik region of Kosovo for a Muslim burial.

''You never know when you're going to die," said Luzha's brother, Bashkim, 24. ''I feel bad. I still don't believe it happened."

Bashkim Luzha was with his brother that night. Ten minutes before the chimney collapsed, he pleaded with his younger brother to go home with him.

''He said he was coming in 10 seconds," Bashkim Luzha said.

Bashkim Luzha waited in his car, but his brother never arrived.

The Essex district attorney's office is investigating the death.

Visar Luzha, who graduated from Lynn Classical High School last year, was working as a painter. Family and friends said he wanted the simple things in life -- a good job, a house, and a family.

Friends said Luzha was laid back, that he never lost his temper or got into fights and didn't gossip.

''He was so nice -- too nice," said Mantor Smrqaku, 21, of Chelsea.

And best of all, family and friends said, Luzha had a great sense of humor.

''If you were in a bad mood, he would joke around and make you feel better," said friend Sedat Xhemaili, 18.

Luzha, who was about 5 feet 8 inches tall, liked playing basketball and soccer. He loved listening to Albanian rap music and often went to New York to hear a group perform. And he enjoyed hanging out with his friends -- whether it was at nearby Revere Beach or at a friend's house like he was on Friday night.

Outside his family's home on Chatham Street in Lynn yesterday afternoon, Luzha's brothers and friends gathered on the front porch and hung the red Albanian flag in his memory.

''He was a great guy, a good kid," said Veli Luzha, 22, an older brother. ''We are really going to miss him."