At least 21 people, including foreign tourists, were killed and 18 others were injured, four of them in critical condition, when a bus plunged off a bridge in Mestre, Venice, and caught fire, according to the latest provisional tally. gave the Italian public television RAI the transport manager of the municipality of Venice Renato Borazo.
According to the same official, citizens of Ukraine were on board the bus, while according to information, among the victims are also tourists from Germany.
An immane tragedy has struck questa sera la nostra comunità.
Ho disto da subito il luto cittadino, in memoria delle numerouse vittimes che erano nell'autobus caduto.
Una scena apocalittica, non ci sono parole. pic.twitter.com/APnsQoPMkL- Luigi Brugnaro (@LuigiBrugnaro) October 3, 2023
The driver was Italian, forty years old, with seven years of professional experience.
Among the injured are at least two children.
This is the most serious traffic accident in the history of Venice.
According to Renato Borazo, the search and rescue operation has been completed.
Italy: A bus fell over a viaduct and a fire broke out in Mestre, in the commune of Venice.
Au moins 20 morts sont à deplorer selon le mayor, qui précis que ce bilan est provisoire.(Rai News) pic.twitter.com/7Zg6U8Snh6
- Neurone Intelligence (@NeuroneIntel) October 3, 2023
'We found Ukrainian passports' in the wreckage of the bus, Venice mayor said
The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, said a while ago that "on the bus that fell from the Mestre bridge, Ukrainian passports were found."
According to several Italian media, they are likely to be Ukrainian refugees who were temporarily staying at a campsite in Marghera, outside Venice.
So far, 21 dead people have been recovered from the wreckage of the bus, while the injured number 15, among them three children.
According to Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piadendozzi, the bus had a natural gas engine and the distance separating the viaduct from the rail where the bus fell was about thirty meters. The Italian minister did not rule out the possibility that the death toll would increase.
Source: RES-EAP
