Venice bridge bus crash: Newlywed, toddler among the dead tourists

Italian authorities are investigating whether an Italian bus driver may have become sick before a fatal crash in Venice, as details emerge about the dead.

A newlywed on her honeymoon, a toddler and entire families were among the 21 people that died after a bus carrying tourists plunged off an overpass near Venice.
Flags flew at half-mast over the floating city on Wednesday local time as authorities declared three days of mourning after the previous evening’s tragedy.

Relatives of the victims arrived from other countries looking to comfort injured loved ones or identify their dead.

Entire families were lost after the bus fell off a overpass in Venice. Picture: Getty Images

Survivors at the Angelo di Mestre hospital “are asking for information about their loved ones who were with them,” said head of medicine Chiara Berti.

“There were entire families, grandparents, grandchildren, spouses” on board, she told reporters.

Moreno De Rossi, in charge of the psychological support team for the survivors, said it was “a painful, very difficult moment”, and there were officials on hand to help with translation.

Rescue workers flood the scene of the tragic accident. Picture: Getty Images

The dead included nine Ukrainians, four Romanians and three Germans, according to the spokesperson for Venice’s mayor.

Two Portuguese, one South African and one Croatian also died, as did the Italian driver, he told AFP.

The Croatian victim was a woman who had been honeymooning in Venice, while her newlywed husband was hospitalised, media reports said.

Relatives have started to arrive from other countries to help identify the dead and comfort those who survived. Picture: Getty Images

DRIVER ‘MAY HAVE FALLEN ILL’

Fifteen people remain in hospital, 13 of whom have been identified as foreign nationals, the Veneto region said. Ten of the 15 were in intensive care, it said.

Venice’s prefect Michele Di Bari, the local representative of the interior ministry, said four Ukrainians, two Spaniards, two Austrians, a German, a Croatian and a French person were among those hurt in the crash.

The bus was carrying tourists to a camp site. Picture: Getty Images

“The bus flipped upside down. The impact was terrible because it fell from over 10 metres” landing next to railway tracks below, said Mauro Luongo, Venice’s fire brigade commander.

“We presume the driver may have fallen ill,” Veneto regional president Luca Zaia told Rtl 102.5 radio.

Witnesses’ accounts and CCTV footage might give additional clues, he said.

Two children are among the dead which includes foreigners. Picture: AFP

Emergency workers spent hours removing bodies from the charred, crushed wreckage, a scene described by Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro as “apocalyptic”.

Emergency crew members work at the scene after the bus accident. Picture: Getty Images

The wreckage was finally removed from the site in the early hours of Wednesday.

Boubacar Toure, a 27-year-old from Gambia who had been working at a building site near the accident, told journalists he had been called over by the fire brigade to help with the rescue.

“I pulled three or four people out, including a little girl, and also a dog. The driver was already dead,” Toure said.