Tourist Bus Falls From Venice's Kite Bridge, 21 People Killed And Dozens Injured

Illustration. (Unsplash/David von Diemar)

JAKARTA - At least 21 people died on Tuesday and 18 others were injured, after a bus carrying tourists to the camp fell from an overpass and caught fire near Venice in northern Italy.

The bus got off the highway and crashed near a railroad line in Mestre District, which connects to Venice via a bridge. The cause of the accident is unclear.

Venice City Council member Renato Boraso said one of the focuses of the investigation was the news of the illness of a bus driver, a 40-year-old Italian who was among the dead, before the accident occurred.

"This is a terrible tragedy, the city is grieving," Boraso told Italian Sky television.

He further explained that the bus carried 40 passengers, 21 of whom died and 18 were injured. The death toll could increase, as some of those injured were in critical condition, he added.

Five of the victims were Ukrainians and one German, Michele Di Bari, a local representative of the Interior Ministry in Venice, said.

"The bus was completely destroyed. Firefighters had difficulty removing many bodies," said Di Bari, adding that two children were among the victims.

The bus also carries passengers from France and Croatia, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Meanwhile, the City Hall of Venice said injured people had been taken to a nearby hospital, with four of them in serious condition.

Officials said the vehicle crashed about 15 meters (50 feet) into an electric cable and caught fire at around 7:45 p.m. local time.

"This is an apocalyptic scene. I can't speak," wrote Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro in a post on X.

On Tuesday night, rescue teams were still struggling to remove the debris from the bus, to ensure no more passengers were trapped inside.

Separately, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed his condolences, saying the Italian government was thinking about "the victims, their families and their friends."

Italy has experienced a number of deadly bus accidents in recent years.

In 2017, 16 people on a bus carrying Hungarian students died in an accident near Verona City. Earlier, 40 people died in 2013 when a bus crashed off a bridge in southern Italy.