The cause of the serious bus accident in Venice remains unclear – but there are now indications that there were apparently significant safety deficiencies at the scene of the accident. Italian media reported a one and a half meter long gap in the guardrail.
After the bus accident in Venice with at least 21 fatalities, significant safety deficiencies around the accident site became public in Italy. As the lagoon city’s transport councilor, Renato Boraso, explained in several interviews, the guardrail at the point where the vehicle fell from a bridge did not meet applicable safety standards. Accordingly, plans for a renovation had been in place since 2016, but work only began in September.
The Italian newspaper “La Stampa” wrote about a “scandal” with regard to securing the bridge. Accordingly, there was a one and a half meter long gap in the guardrail at the accident site. The metal railing behind this gap could not withstand the impact of the bus.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the bus scraped along the guardrail for about 50 meters before it broke through both the guardrail and a rusty railing and fell into the depths.
Investigators have the guardrail checked
The Italian public prosecutor’s office commissioned a report on the broken guardrail. Prosecutor Bruno Cherchi said that witness statements and video recordings from the scene of the accident and from inside the vehicle would also be examined and the data recorder would be evaluated. An examination of the driver’s cell phone should also provide information about the cause of the accident.
According to previous findings, the electric bus with which tourists were returning from an excursion in the old town of Venice scraped several meters along the guardrail before reaching the gap and falling. At least 21 people died in the accident and 15 were injured. According to the Italian authorities, the fatalities include three Germans, as well as the Italian bus driver, nine Ukrainians, four Romanians, two Portuguese, a Croat and a South African.
Three dead and five injured Germans
The Foreign Office in Berlin confirmed three German deaths. “Another five German nationals were injured and are receiving medical treatment,” the Foreign Office said late in the afternoon. “The German Consulate General in Milan and the German Embassy in Rome are in close contact with the relatives and the local authorities.”
Italian media reported that two brothers from Germany, aged seven and 13, were among the injured. Their parents were therefore among those killed. When asked by the AFP news agency, the Foreign Office has not yet provided any further information about these reports.
Repair work planned for years
Venice Transport City Councilor Boraso said the renewal of the railings would have been completed by next year as part of the work that began in September; The repairs had already been completed up to a section 400 meters from the accident site. Looking at the seven years that have passed from the beginning of planning to the start of work, Boraso said: “We should ask ourselves why in Italy a process to carry out such work has to take so long.”
It is still unclear why the bus left the road. Possible causes for the accident were, among other things, the driver’s health problems and a risky driving maneuver.