Tragedy in Venice as Tourist Bus Plunges off Overpass, Killing 21
Tragedy in Venice as Tourist Bus Plunges off Overpass, Killing 21
METROPOLITAN CITY OF VENICE, Italy — At least 21 people died on Tuesday 3 October, in Italy’s Venice City, in Northern Italy with scores others injured. The bus carrying tourists fell off the overpass and caught fire.
The bus veered off the road and fell next to railway lines in Mestre district that is linked to Venice by a bridge.
The cause of the crash was unknown. The Venice city councilor Renato Boraso indicated that the driver, a forty-year-old Italian who was among those that perished, had been taken ill before the crash.
The electric bus veered off an overpass road on Tuesday 3 October evening at around 7:45pm local time (17:45 GMT), crashed through a guardrail, plummeted onto electricity lines and caught fire, reports indicate.
The bus was only a year old, and the forty-year-old driver with an untarnished record had just begun his shift shuttling tourists from Piazzale Roma, at the edge of Venice’s famed canals, to a four-star campground on the mainland providing bargain accommodation. The driver, Alberto Rizzotto, was among the victims.
“The bus had been carrying 40 passengers, 21 of whom had died and 18 who were injured,” said Venice City Councilor Renato Boraso.
Boraso further warned that the death toll could rise as many of those hurt in the crash were in a life threatening condition in hospital.
“It’s an appalling tragedy, the city is in mourning,” said Boraso.
“An apocalyptic scene, there are no words.” ” Official mourning has been declared in Venice in memory of the victims,” said Venice’s Mayor Luigi Brugnaro in a post on social media.
“Five of the victims were Ukrainians and one was German. The bus was also carrying passengers from France and Croatia,” said Venice’s prefect Michele Di Bari, the local representative of the interior ministry.
“The bus is totally crushed. The firefighters had difficulty getting a lot of the bodies out,” said Di Bari. He further noted that two children were among the victims.
Late on Tuesday evening, rescuers were still racing with time to remove the wreckages of the bus to ensure no more passengers were trapped inside.
Edited by Judy J. Rotich and Newsdesk Manager
