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Venice crash: 21 killed after EV batteries in tourist bus exploded in 50ft plunge off overpass ‘when driver fell ill’
AT LEAST 21 people including two children and a baby were killed in a horror accident after a tourist bus plunged 50 off an overpass onto a train track in Venice.
The coach landed on the electrified lines at the Mestre station causing the vehicle's EV batteries to explode before bursting into flames.
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The city's fire chief Mauro Luongo said the cause of the crash was not known, but "in the impact the electric batteries of the bus caught fire".
He said: "The bus flipped upside down. The impact was terrible because it fell from over 10 metres (32 feet)" landing next to railway tracks below.
"Among the difficulties was the fact that the bus was electric so it had batteries.
"Unfortunately, they caught fire on impact. That's why operations took a little longer to remove the vehicle."
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It is speculated the driver Alberto Rizzotto, 40, from Treviso, who was among the victims suffered a sudden illness that caused him to lose control of the bus.
Veneto regional president Luca Zaia told local radio "We presume the driver may have fallen ill," adding that witnesses' accounts and CCTV footage might give additional clues.
Three children including a baby are among the dead while another 18 people were injured and up to five are missing.
A four-year-old girl is in life-threatening condition and remains in intensive care while a woman, 50, suffered severe burns.
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Both the woman and the girl are Ukrainian nationals.
Ukrainian, German and French tourists are among the other 16 injured.
Emergency workers spent hours removing the bodies, working overnight on the charred remains of the vehicle, which they finally removed from the scene early this morning.
The bus had been rented by a group of tourists camping at nearby Marghera.
Mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro said: "A huge tragedy struck our community this evening.
"The bus involved in the accident was going from Venice to Marghera, full of people returning home from work.
"It went completely off the road and flew off the bridge.
"I immediately declared the city to be in mourning, in memory of the numerous victims who were on the fallen bus.
"An apocalyptic scene, there are no words."
He added: "Several of the victims were foreigners, we found Ukrainian passports."
A police spokesman said: "The bus was rented for its guests by Camping Jolly in Marghera.
"On board, at the time of the accident, there were tourists of various nationalities. Also with them were at least two minors."
The railway line between Mestre and Venice has been suspended following the horror accident.
A passenger on the train further back on the line told The Sun they were ordered to get off because of a "fire" - before they later saw the news of the crash while stranded miles from their destination.
A British tourist said that she had been stranded at Santa Lucia station in the middle of the Venetian lagoon because of the crash.
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Italian PM Giorgia Meloni said: "I express my deepest condolences, my personal and that of the entire government, for the serious accident that occurred in Mestre.
"My thoughts go to the victims and their families and friends.
"I am in close contact with the mayor Luigi Brugnaro and with the minister Matteo Piantedosi for the news on this tragedy."
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European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen wrote on Twitter/X: "My deepest condolences to the families of the victims and those injured in the serious accident in Mestre.
"I am close to President Mattarella, President Meloni and the mayor of Venice Brugnaro in this moment of profound pain."
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