A bus carrying dozens of people fell from a height of 15 meters onto a highway in Venice, causing a violent collision that killed 21 people and injured at least 15, most of them foreign tourists filming. Return to the nearby campsite.
According to Venice authorities, among those killed in Tuesday night's accident were at least four Ukrainians and one German citizen. Venice Prefect Michele Di Bari said at least two of the dead were children, adding that most of those involved in the accident were "young".
Firefighters worked until dawn Wednesday to clear the debris. Late in the morning, traffic moved slowly past the spot where the bus had punctured a rusty railing and fence. The accident scene attracted the attention of passersby.
Some residents said the viaduct was more than 60 years old and nothing like this had ever happened there, while a man wearing a biker jacket stopped his motorbike to tie a bouquet of plastic flowers to the pole.
The bus was carrying foreign tourists from Venice's Piazzale Roma to the Hu campsite on Tuesday night when it fell from an elevated street next to train tracks in the Mestre district and caught fire. Tourists frequently stay in areas across the lagoon from the canals of Venice's famous historic center to find cheaper accommodation.
Among the injured, five were in serious condition and were citizens of France, Spain, Austria, and Croatia, local officials said. Spain's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that two Spaniards were injured in the crash and that both were hospitalized and in good condition.
The driver, Alberto Rizzotto, was killed in the accident. Venice City Councilman Renato Boraso said he was an experienced driver, and local prosecutors were investigating whether he felt unwell.
Rescuers noted that the fact that the bus was powered by electricity contributed to the large fire and made rescue operations more difficult. Godstime Erheneden was in an apartment near the accident site when he heard noises outside.
He rushed out and was one of the first to board the bus. “When we entered, we immediately saw the driver. He died. I carried a woman on my shoulders, then a man," Erheneden told local newspaper il Gazzettino. “The woman shouted:
A bus carrying dozens of people fell from a height of 15 meters onto a highway
'My daughter, my daughter' and I walked inside. I saw this little girl who must have been 2 years old. I have a son who is 1 year and 10 months old and they are the same size. I felt like I was holding my son in my arms. It was worse. I don't know if she survived.
I thought she was alive, but when rescuers arrived, they immediately took her away," Erheneden said. Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the scene was "apocalyptic" and declared a state of mourning.
In 2017, 16 people on a bus carrying Hungarian students died in a crash near the northern city of Verona. And in 2013, 40 people were killed in one of Italy's worst road accidents when a bus fell off a viaduct near the southern town of Avellino.