Fatal Bus Accident Near Venice kills 21, Including Ukrainians

At least 21 people were killed and 18 injured in a fiery bus crash in a borough of Venice, Italy, across the lagoon from its historic centre, where firefighters and other emergency responders worked into the night trying to extract bodies and squelch the flames.
The bus was carrying foreign according to a Venice official, when it fell from an elevated street Tuesday in Mestre en route to a camping site near the community of Marghera.
“The people in the bus found themselves surrounded by flames,” said Mauro Luongo, commander of the Venice firefighters team. “The scene we found was terrible. It took about one hour to extract some of the bodies.”
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter,that the crash scene was “apocalyptic” and declared the city in a state of mourning.
Four of the injured were in serious condition following the accident, which happened on the mainland just 9 km northwest of the old city of Venice, said Renato Boraso, a Venice city official. Two of the dead were children, Venice prefect Michele Di Bari said.mThe injured were transferred to five different hospitals in the region.
According to local media, the bus fell a few metres before crashing close to Mestre’s railway tracks, where it caught fire.mThe Veneto region governor, Luca Zaia, told RAI state television that the cause of the accident was still unclear.
“This is an important tragedy, but it’s difficult to understand how it happened,” he said. “The bus was new and electric, and that street wasn’t particularly problematic.”
The Italian driver, Alberto Rizzotto, was killed in the crash. Venice prosecutors are investigating if he felt ill while he was driving. He was an experienced driver, Venice city councillor Renato Boraso said.
Godstime Erheneden was in his apartment near the accident when he heard a crash outside. He rushed outside and was among the first to enter the bus.
“When we went in, we saw the driver right away. He was dead. I carried a woman out on my shoulders, then a man,” Erheneden told the Venice daily il Gazzettino.
“The woman was screaming, “my daughter, my daughter,’ and I went back in. I saw this 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 terrible. I don’t know if she survived. I thought she was alive but when the rescuers arrived they took her away immediately,” Erheneden said.
Fire fighters worked until dawn Wednesday to remove the wreckage of a bus that crashed in a borough of Venice, Italy, across the lagoon from its historic centre, killing 21 people and injuring at least 15, mostly foreign tourists returning to a nearby camping site.
The victims included at least four Ukrainians and a German citizen, according to Venice prefecture. Injured people, including five in serious condition, included French, Spanish and Croatian nationals, local officials said.

SIMILAR DEADLY INCIDENT IN 2016
In 2017, 16 people on a bus carrying Hungarian students died in an accident near the northern city of Verona. And in 2013, 40 people were killed in one of Italy’s worst vehicle accidents when a bus plunged off a viaduct close to the southern city of Avellino.