Venice tourist bus plunge leaves 21 dead

Thursday, October 5, 2023

At least 21 people including several children have died after a bus crashed off a flyover near Venice and burst into flames, officials say.

The electric bus broke through a barrier and plunged almost 15m (50ft) near railway tracks in Mestre, which is connected to Venice by a bridge.

Five Ukrainians, one German and the Italian driver were among the dead, city prefect Michele Di Bari said.

Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said a “huge tragedy” had taken place.

An apocalyptic scene, there are no words, he said on social media.

CCTV footage of the flyover from Tuesday night showed the vehicle driving past another bus, before toppling off the carriageway.

One rescuer spoke of a “tragedy of young people, if not very young people, except for a few adults.

Three children including a baby were among the dead, emergency services said. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said that the toll could rise.

Fifteen people are known to have been injured, five of them seriously. Venice officials said they included Ukrainians, Austrians, Spaniards and other foreign tourists.

Among the injured were two 16-year-olds and two younger children, the local governor said.

Two German brothers, aged seven and 13, were being treated for broken bones in hospital in nearby Treviso. Their parents were killed in the accident and the boys were being given counselling.

Venice prosecutor Bruno Cherchi said identifying the victims was proving difficult because many were not carrying personal documents. Only three or four survivors had so far been able to talk to investigators by Wednesday afternoon, he added.

The bus, carrying 39 people, crashed at around 19:45 (17:45 GMT) on Tuesday. It had apparently been rented by a local company to pick up tourists from the historic centre of Venice to a campsite in the nearby Marghera district.

The bus was seen by witnesses scraping along the guard-rail on the flyover for 50m, before tumbling to the ground, the prosecutor added.

The bus company emphasised that the 13-tonne vehicle was electric, discounting earlier reports that it also ran on methane gas. Fire brigade commander Mauro Longo told Il Gazzettino website that the bus’s batteries caught fire and made the task of clearing the bus a complex operation.

Witnesses said they could hear people screaming but the flames were too high to intervene.

What is unclear is why the bus left the flyover on a downhill stretch of the road and careered through a guard rail and metal barrier. Police are looking at video from security cameras near the crash site.

Firefighters eventually removed the wrecked bus from the scene early on Wednesday.

A reception point staffed by psychologists and psychiatrists has been set up at a nearby hospital to provide support for the victims’ families.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the country’s thoughts were with the victims and their family and friends.

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