ITALIAN FIREFIGHTERS/VIGELLI DEL FUCO/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Italian authorities are investigating the cause of Tuesday’s fatal bus accident near Venice, which killed at least 21 people including the driver.
CNN
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On Wednesday, the Italian authorities opened an investigation into why this happened Horrific bus accident near Venice, killing at least 21 people, including two children.
A spokesman for the Italian fire brigade told CNN that authorities have not yet found the cause of Tuesday’s plane crash in Mestre, which was described as a “horrific scene.”
RAI reported that the 40-year-old bus driver, Alberto Rizzuto, was among those killed, while 18 people were also injured.
Italian fire services said they would look into whether the bus’s battery may have caused the fire to spread more quickly after it overheated.
According to the website of the company operating the bus, the bus was powered by electric power.
Claudia Greco – Reuters
Flowers were seen on Wednesday at the site where a bus crashed from an overpass in Mestre, Italy.
Claudia Greco – Reuters
Local police work at the site of the bus crash on Wednesday.
Regional Fire Brigade Commander Mauro Lungo explained that the batteries face “critical problems” when they overheat, CNN affiliate Sky TG24 reported on Wednesday.
According to Longo, concerns about the battery slowed down the rescue operation on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Venice Public Prosecutor opened an investigation into the incident.
A representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office told CNN that Venice Municipal Prosecutor Bruno Cerci is leading the investigation into the incident in Mestre.
The spokesman said the video recently turned over to investigators is being examined to determine if there were any other vehicles involved in the accident or if the driver had a health problem.
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told state media that the bus was heading from Venice to nearby Marghera and was “full of people returning home from work.”
Stefano Mazzola/Getty Images
Emergency crews work at the scene after a bus accident near Venice.
Stefano Mazzola/Getty Images
Italian fire services will look into whether the bus’s electric battery played a role in the accident.
“She went completely off the road and fell off the bridge. It was a bus. It was a highway. “We are in mourning,” he added. Brugnaro described the scene as “horrific” in a Facebook post.
Italian media skytg24 reported that the accident occurred on the overpass of the road leading from Mestre to Marghera and the A4 motorway.
For reasons that have not yet been determined, the bus broke through the bridge wall and fell between a warehouse and the tracks of Mestre station below, according to skytg24.
Massimo Fiorizzi, head of the company operating the bus, said he had seen footage of the moments leading up to the accident.
The video clip showed the single-decker bus slowing down and appearing “almost stationary” before it hit the guardrail and overturned, he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, according to Reuters.
On Wednesday morning, the Italian Senate, the upper house of Parliament, observed a minute of silence for the victims of the accident, according to the X website.
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The country’s president and prime minister expressed their condolences following the incident, as did other world leaders.
“I express my deep personal and government condolences for the serious accident that occurred in Mestre. Our thoughts go out to the victims, their families and friends,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X.
“Thoughts this evening are with the Italian people, with the families and loved ones of the victims of the terrible tragedy in Venice,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X.
“I am deeply saddened by the terrible accident involving a bus in Mestre this evening. I offer my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims at this sad time. I am close to you,” European Council President Charles Michel wrote on X.
