Bus with tourists plunges through overpass killing 21

VENICE (AP):

Residents of the Italian city of Venice stopped in dismay on Wednesday to pay respects to the 21 foreign tourists who were killed when an all-electric shuttle bus crashed through an overpass guard rail and fence, plunging more than 10 metres (30 feet) to the ground.

It’s a road that Venetians had travelled many times and considered safe, but they now stopped to inspect the ageing guard rail and rusted fence.

The bus, which was just a year old, crashed to the ground and landed upside down on Tuesday night. The 40-year-old driver was among those killed, and 15 people were injured.

The driver, who had 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.

A video shows the city-owned bus disappear from the frame, as another larger bus travelling behind it continued along the overpass. Prosecutors said the shuttle bus scraped against the guard rail for at least 50 metres (more than 150 feet) before its fiery crash to a surface road opposite the Venetian borough of Mestre’s train station.

The guard rail was bent to the pavement, the fence was ripped open, and the front of the bus was completely crushed.

“Inexplicable,’’ said Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who added that he had driven on the overpass hundreds of times. Regional Governor Luca Zaia said the circumstances suggested the driver may have suddenly become ill.

Investigators hope that video from the scene will reveal the reason for the crash.