Italy Launches Probe After Bus With Foreign Tourists In Venice Plunges From Overpass, Killing 21

VENICE, Italy — Wednesday, Venetians paid their respects to the 21 foreign tourists murdered when an all-electric shuttle bus crashed through an overpass guardrail and fence and plunged more than 10 meters to the ground.

They had traveled this road many times and believed it to be secure, but they had now stopped to inspect the aging guardrail and rusty fence.

On Tuesday night, the one-year-old bus plummeted to the ground and landed upside down. The driver, aged 40, was one of the fatalities, and 15 persons were injured.

The driver, who had a spotless record, had just begun his shift shuttling tourists from Piazzale Roma, at the border of Venice’s renowned canals, to a four-star campground on the mainland that provided affordable lodging.

A video captures the city-owned bus leaving the frame as a larger bus continues along the elevated road behind it. Prosecutors claim the shuttle bus scraped the guardrail for at least 50 meters (yards) before its fiery collision onto a surface road opposite the train station in the Venetian borough of Mestre.

The guardrail was crushed to the pavement, and the front of the bus was entirely crushed.

“Inexplicable,” said Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who had driven over the flyover countless times. According to regional governor Luca Zaia, the circumstances indicated that the driver may have suddenly become ill.

Investigators anticipate that footage from the scene will reveal the nature of the incident.

There were five Ukrainians and one German among the fatalities. Alberto Rizzotto was identified as the Italian chauffeur. Two victims were minors. The remaining victims have not yet been identified.

At least four Ukrainians were among the casualties, along with a 3-year-old girl who suffered severe burns and tourists from Spain, Austria, France, Croatia, and Germany. Nine patients were treated for injuries in intensive care, including burns and fractures. Among the survivors were a young sibling and sister from Austria.

“They are still in what we call the shock phase, with confused memories, and in the state of agitation and confusion typical of a traumatic event,” said Rita Lorio, a psychologist at the main hospital in Mestre, one of five hospitals treating the injured. They are not yet at that stage of understanding what occurred.

The tourists are all believed to have stayed at the Hu Venezia Camping in Town, just a 15-minute drive from the shuttle bus’s pickup point at Piazzale Roma, at the edge of Venice’s renowned canals linked to the mainland by a bridge.

The collapse has shocked the two-thirds of Venetians who reside on the mainland. Wednesday morning, many paused to pay their respects while staring at the gaping guardrail and fence. A motorcyclist stopped to attach plastic blossoms to a post.

Wednesday, family members of the deceased and survivors began filtering into Venice from across Europe. Three days of mourning were proclaimed in the Veneto region, and flags were flown at half-staff during government business.

According to experts, the electric bus contributed to the massive conflagration and complicated rescue efforts.

The city of Venice is currently replacing its buses with electrified vehicles.

“I will never forget what I saw,” Brugnaro, the mayor of Mestre, told the Associated Press from his office in Mestre. “It’s impossible to convey what it’s like to see so many people crammed into a bus down there.

The city of Venice is currently replacing its buses with electrified vehicles. They were introduced several years ago on the city’s Lido island, and a limited number were added to the fleet in Mestre last year.

Brugnaro stated that the accident did not cause him to halt the city’s plan to upgrade municipal transport to less-polluting electric buses, even though it remains unclear what role the battery played in the subsequent fire.

He stated that the bus drove off the flyover. “It has nothing to do with the fact that it is electric.”

Wednesday, Gianni Amadeo, an 80-year-old retired musician, stopped in disbelief at a location he routinely passes between his home and storage garage.

“It took a scary flight,” he said of the bus’s descent before continuing, transporting supporters he will not need until next summer.

Godstime Erheneden was in his flat with a view of the bustling street when he heard a crash and ran outside. He was one of the earliest to board the bus.

Italy Launches Probe After Bus With Foreign Tourists In Venice Plunges From Overpass, Killing 21

“As soon as we walked in, we saw the chauffeur. He had died. I carried a woman out on my shoulders, and then a male,” Erheneden told il Gazzettino, a local newspaper.

“As the mother screamed,’ My daughter, my daughter,’ I returned inside. I observed a child who appeared to be two years old. My son, who is 1 year and 10 months old, is the same size as my daughter. I felt as though I were holding my firstborn. It was dreadful. I have no idea if she survived. “I believed she was still alive, but as soon as the rescuers arrived, they whisked her away,” Erheneden said.

Brugnaro stated that he had read Erhenden and his roommate’s actions. Both were identified as longtime Italian residents employed by the shipbuilding company Fincantieri. The mayor said he intended to locate them once the emergency had passed.

They sacrificed themselves to save these individuals. They are the true champions of our time,” he declared.

SOURCE – (AP)