At least 21 people were killed and 18 injured when a bus carrying mainly international tourists fell off an overpass in a fiery and “apocalyptic” accident near Venice, Italy, on Tuesday night.
The bus, which was headed to a camp near the Marghera area, crashed through a barrier on the elevated road and plunged several meters into an area near the railroad tracks in Mestre, where it caught fire, according to authorities.
“The people who were on the bus found themselves surrounded by flames,” said Mauro Luongo, commander of the Venice fire team. “The scene we found was terrible. “It took about an hour to extract some of the bodies.”
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro called the horrific accident “an apocalyptic scene” and declared the city was in mourning in a social media post.
“An enormous tragedy shook our community this afternoon… There are no words,” he said in a statement. published in X, formerly Twitter.
At least 21 people died and 18 were injured in the accident that occurred around 7:45 p.m. in Mestre.REUTERS Among the dead were two children and Ukrainian tourists, according to local authorities. AP
Among the dead were two children, five Ukrainians, a German and the Italian bus driver, Venice Prefect Michele Di Bari said.
The death toll could increase as at least four of the injured are in serious condition, according to local authorities.
The injured were rushed to five different hospitals in the region after the accident at 7:45 p.m.
“The people who were on the bus found themselves surrounded by flames,” said Mauro Luongo, commander of the Venice fire team. AFP via Getty Images The death toll could rise if some of the injured do not survive, officials said.
It is unclear what caused the bus to crash.
“This is a major tragedy, but it is difficult to understand how it happened,” the governor of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, told RAI state television. “The bus was new and electric, and that street was not particularly problematic.”
Rescuers worked all night to put out the flames and recover more bodies.
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro called the horrific accident “an apocalyptic scene.” STRINGER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered her “deepest condolences” to the victims and their loved ones and said she was in close contact with Brugnaro.
A similar tragedy claimed the lives of 16 people in 2016 when a bus carrying Hungarian students crashed near the northern city of Verona.
Three years earlier, 40 people died when a bus fell off a viaduct near the southern city of Avellino, in one of the country’s worst vehicle fatalities.
With post cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn