Venice bus crash driver may have had ‘medical episode’ before methane-powered vehicle plunged off bridge and burst into flames, killing 21 including children and foreign tourists
- The coach veered off the road and fell close to railway lines at around 7.45pm
- Rescuers pulled 19 bodies from the wreckage while a further two died in hospital
The driver of the bus that crashed in Venice last night may have had a ‘medical episode’ that led to the deaths of 21 people including children, investigators believe.
Alberto Rizzotto, 40, has been identified as the driver of the methane powered vehicle and was among those killed when it plunged 30 feet off a bridge and burst into flames on Tuesday evening.
By Wednesday morning, 19 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage while a further two people died in hospital. Officials have said two children were killed and as many as 18 people were injured, five of whom are in a critical condition.
Investigators are already pouring over footage from traffic cameras on the bridge which captured the crash unfold at around 7.45pm local time to determine the cause of what has been described by Venice’s mayor as a ‘huge tragedy’.
One possible explanation being investigated is that the Rizzotto had a ‘medical episode’, officials said, with one noting that the road was ‘straight and there were no bends’ and that footage appeared to show the bus ‘drifting’ towards the guardrail.
The driver of the bus that crashed in Venice last night may have had a ‘medical episode’ that led to the deaths of 21 people including children, investigators believe
Officials said the vehicle (pictured from an overpass above) veered off the road and fell 98 feet (30 metres) onto electricity lines before catching fire at around 7.45pm local time on Tuesday evening in the Mestre district – connected to Venice by a bridge
Emergency service personnel are seen lifting the bus with cranes before taking it away. Alberto Rizzotto, 40, has been identified as the driver of the methane powered vehicle and was among those killed when it plunged 30 feet off a bridge and burst into flames
Images show crowds of emergency services attending the crash which has so far seen around 21 people dead, including two children. Nineteen died at the scene and two more in hospital
Tiredness was unlikely to be a factor as Rizzotto – whose body was among those pulled from the wreckage – had only just started his shift, officials said.
Venice police chief Marco Agostini told local media: ‘There appears to be no brake marks on the asphalt so the theory of a medical episode is a possibility.’
Venice’s chief proscutor Bruno Cherchi said autopsies would be carried out on the driver and the victims and a full examination of the wreckage would be carried out.
He added: ‘At this moment we have no definitive explanation but there are several theories and we hope to have a clearer picture by the end of the day.’
There was also speculation in Italian media that ‘another vehicle’ had possibly hit the bus causing it to lose control and it had then raced away.
Firefighters said the bus caught fire after careering off a bridge straddling a railway line and linking the Mestre and Marghera districts of Venice in northern Italy.
Emergency workers spent hours removing the bodies, working overnight on the charred remains of the vehicle, which they finally removed from the scene the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Luongo, the fire chief, said the cause of the crash was not known, but ‘in the impact the electric batteries of the bus caught fire’.
Venice police chief Marco Agostini told local media: ‘There appears to be no brake marks on the asphalt so the theory of a medical episode is a possibility.’
Rizzotto, originally from Conegliano, has been described by his boss as a ‘good’ driver with five or six years experience.
Spekaing to Corriere Della Sera, Massimo Fiorese – CEO of La Linea which owned and operated the coach – said Rizzotto ‘was a person with proven experience, very good, a good person.’
‘[The drive] had been working with us since 2014, then he had a break and then returned to us again for 7 years”, continues Fiorese,’ Fiorese said.
The CEO said there is footage of the coach just before it fell off the bridge which shows it slowed down and had almost come to a stop when it toppled over the edge.
‘In the video you can see that the bus is almost at a standstill, the guardrail is thin, it is not one of the most modern and structured ones, and the bus weighed a lot because it was an electric one. The impact was fatal,’ he said.
‘I think the driver had an illness, because otherwise I can’t explain it.’
The coach had been rented by 40 tourists and was transporting them back from Venice’s main island to their campsite in the Mestre district when it crashed.
A city hall official said the dead included Ukrainian tourists while Italian news agency ANSA said the fatalities included German and French citizens.
Three Ukrainians, a Croatian, German and French national were among the injured, a city official told AFP news agency. Officials also announced that two Austrians and two Spaniards were among the victims of the tragedy.
Mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro posted on X, formerly as Twitter: ‘A huge tragedy struck our community this evening. An apocalyptic scene. I am speechless.’
Emergency crew members work at the scene after a bus accident near Venice on October 3
Coffins are seen being prepared for those who were killed in the fatal bus crash on Tuesday
Forty ambulances were sent to the scene and the railway line to Venice was closed temporarily before being reopened
Italian firefighters are seen working at the scene of the crash as the bus is lifted by cranes to be taken away on the back of a emergency service truck
Firefighters and rescue personnel attended the scene after the coach crashed and caught fire
The coach veered off the road and fell close to railway lines in the district of Mestre – connected to Venice by a bridge
Nearby Hospitals went into ’emergency mode’ and an urgent appeal for blood donors was issued
Rescue personnel attended the scene after the coach crashed off an overpass in Mestre
Firefighters are at work amid Fire brigade vehicles at the scene of a crashed bus
Police officers are seen in front of the overpass where a coach crashed near Venice
A firefighter is pictured at work near the coach after it crashed off an overpass near Venice
Pictured: A view of the motorway the bus fell from
Luca Zaia, governor of the Venice region, confirmed at least 21 dead and numerous others injured, some seriously, deploring a ‘tragedy of enormous proportions’.
Nearby hospitals went into ’emergency mode’ and an urgent appeal for blood donors was issued.
Five hospitals in the area in Mestre, Trevino, Dolo, Mirano and Padova have been put on emergency footing with casualty departments cleared of patients.
One eyewitness, who gave his name as Leonardo, told Italian media: ‘I heard a strong braking, I thought it was a train.
‘Then the sound of the impact, a thud. I was alarmed and looking out I saw smoke and heard people screaming for help.
‘As I ran and reached where I could see the bus, the screams turned into a horrifying deadly silence, which stopped my blood.’
He added: ‘I wanted to help but I was blocked by a friend of mine and a policewoman, because the bus was still on fire and at risk of explosion.
‘I then remained there until help arrived, which arrived after about twenty minutes.’
Forty ambulances were sent to the scene and the railway line to Venice was closed temporarily before being reopened, but operator Trenitalia said services were subject to lengthy delays and cancellations.
‘The bus is totally crushed. The firefighters had difficulty getting a lot of the bodies out,’ Venice’s prefect Michele Di Bari told Sky Italia television.
Bari, who was at the scene, said he saw the driver’s body removed from the wreck.
Rescuers were still struggling to remove the wreckage of the bus late on Tuesday evening to make sure no more passengers were trapped inside.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences, saying in a statement that her government’s thoughts were with ‘the victims, their families and their friends’.
‘I am in contact with mayor Luigi Brugnaro and (Transport) Minister Matteo Salvini in order to follow the news of this tragedy,’ she said in a statement.
Salvini was among those who suggested the cause of the accident could be the driver suddenly taking sick.
Interior minister Matteo Piantedosi said: ‘The bus has fallen 10 metres and caught fire and what worsened the situation was that it was biomethane powered.’
He said the ‘aggravating factor’ was methane, and that the fire spread rapidly.
He said more bodies could have been lost to the flames.
Francesso Moraglia, the Patriarch of Venice, was at the site where he blessed the dead, their bodies covered with white shrouds on which bouquets of red flowers had been placed.
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen offered their condolences.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she was ‘deeply saddened by the terrible bus tragedy… In this night of grief, my thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends’.
Venice police chief Marco Agostini told local media: ‘There appears to be no brake marks on the asphalt so the theory of a medical episode is a possibility’
Rescuers were still struggling to remove the wreckage of the bus late on Tuesday evening
Venice police chief Marco Agostini told local media: ‘There appears to be no brake marks on the asphalt so the theory of a medical episode is a possibility’
Shocking photos show crowds of emergency services attending the tragedy which has so far seen more than 20 people dead
Italian scientific police members are pictured at work at the scene of the crashed coach
Huge crowds of people were seen attending the tragedy, with emergency services at the scene many hours after the crash
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the German foreign affairs department told AFP its embassy in Rome was working with Italian authorities to verify whether German nationals were among the victims.
Shocking footage posted on X shows the vehicle in flames which huge plumes of smoke rising into the air while onlookers watch in horror.
It comes after Italy has suffered a number of deadly bus crashes in recent years.
Sixteen people on board a bus carrying Hungarian students died in an accident near the northern city of Verona in 2017, while 40 people died in 2013 when a bus plunged off a viaduct in southern Italy.
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