Italy identifies 20 foreign tourists who perished in fiery crash from overpass on Venetian mainland
>> Venetian mainlanders stopped in dismay Wednesday to pay respects to the 21 people, all but one foreign tourists, who were killed when an all-electric shuttle bus crashed through an overpass guardrail and fence, plunging more than 10 meters (30 feet) to the ground.
The raised road opposite a major train station is one of the borough of Mestre's most frequently traveled, without second thoughts. But they now stopped to inspect the aging guardrail and rusted fence — both of which the bus sliced through in a moment during Tuesday rushhour traffic.
The bus was just a year old, and the 40-year-old driver with an untarnished record had just started his shift shuttling tourists from Piazzale Roma, at the edge of Venice's famed canals,
to a four-star campground on the mainland offering bargain accommodation. The driver, Alberto Rizzotto, was among the dead.
A video showed the city-owned bus disappear from the frame, as another larger bus traveling behind it continued along the overpass. Prosecutors
ruled out contact with any other vehicle, and said the shuttle bus scraped against the guardrail for at least 50 meters (more than 150 feet) before its fiery crash to a surface road.
The guardrail was bent to the pavement, and the fence was ripped open. The bus landed upside down, its front end crushed. Fire damage was visible.
“Inexplicable,” said Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who has driven on the overpass hundreds of times. Regional Gov. Luca Zaia said the circumstances suggested the driver may have suddenly become ill.
Investigators hope that video from cameras inside the bus will reveal the reason for the crash.
Nine Ukrainians were among the dead tourists, along with four Romanians, three Germans, two Portuguese, one Croat and one South African.
The injured included at least four Ukrainians, part of a larger group that included a 3-yearold girl who suffered serious burns, as well as visitors from Spain, Austria, France, Croatia and Germany. Nine were being treated in intensive care for trauma, including burns and fractures. Survivors also included a young Austrian brother and sister.