Status: 04.10.2023, 00:21 a.m.
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Officers of the Italian State Police are at the scene of the accident near the city of Venice. © -/Italian State Police via AP/dpa
At least 21 people die in a serious bus accident in Venice - in the mainland district of Mestre. The situation is very confusing at first. The bus was probably a shuttle for tourists.
Venice - Images of horror from the dream city: In Venice in the mainland district of Mestre, a bus broke through the parapet of an elevated road and fell from a bridge about ten meters into the depths. The gas-powered bus with around 40 people on board crashed onto tracks and caught fire immediately after impact. According to the president of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, at least 21 people died - including minors.
According to the Italian authorities, at least one German victim is among the fatalities. Initially, there was no confirmation of this from the German side. The Foreign Office in Berlin merely announced: "Our embassy in Rome is involved and is in contact with the Italian authorities to clarify the extent to which German nationals are affected."
According to the relevant prefecture, at least five Ukrainian nationals are among the fatalities. The driver, a 40-year-old Italian, was also killed, Prefect Michele di Bari said late in the evening. At least 20 occupants of the bus were injured, 5 of them seriously.
The exact circumstances of the accident remain unclear
The bus had broken through the parapet of an elevated road at around 19:45 p.m. for an initially unexplained reason and had fallen ten meters into the depths. There he crashed onto a railway track and immediately caught fire. According to initial information, the vehicle is the shuttle bus from a campsite in the mainland district of Marghera, which was on its way back from Venice.
Many Venice holidaymakers spend the day in the old town and then return to the mainland in the evening. The accommodation prices are significantly lower there. Expressions of solidarity came from many countries in the evening. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote in English on X (formerly: Twitter): "My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends."
According to the fire brigade, the investigation of the interior of the vehicle was completed in the evening. However, the emergency services are still busy checking whether there are still people under the bus wreckage, it said. Shortly after the accident, many emergency services were at the scene of the accident with several ambulances. The railway line between Mestre on the mainland and the famous lagoon city of Venice was interrupted.
The exact circumstances of the accident are still unclear. The route of the bus will be checked, any clues could provide brake marks or the condition of the road surface, it was said by investigating police officers on site. However, it was suspected that the driver of the bus may have suffered a fainting spell.
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"We were supposed to take the next bus, but it didn't come, and then we heard it," young German tourists who were also at the campsite in Marghera told reporters. "It's a tragedy."
Mayor speaks of "apocalyptic scene"
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was dismayed. "My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends. I am in close contact with Venice's mayor Luigi Brugnaro and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi to follow the news of this tragedy," Meloni said, according to a statement.
The mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, spoke of a "terrible tragedy" that had struck his city in the evening. "An apocalyptic scene, there are no words," Brugnaro said in a post on the online platform X (formerly Twitter).
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her deepest condolences to the families of the victims and injured. She is close to the Italian government and those responsible at this moment of deep mourning, she wrote at X. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, was also concerned. "I am deeply saddened by the terrible bus accident that occurred tonight in Mestre," Michel told X. dpa