A bus carrying passengers fell from a bridge in Mestre, a town in Venice, Italy, in the early evening of Tuesday, October 3. According to Ansa, the main Italian press agency, the provisional toll stands at fifteen dead and ten bodies have already been extracted from the vehicle, which fell near a railway line. The newspaper La Republicawhich quotes the mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, reports“at least twenty dead” at this stage – a figure confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) by a spokesperson for the elected official.
“A tragedy struck our community this evening”doing “many victims among those present on board the bus which fell” said the mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, on Facebook, describing “an apocalyptic scene”. Train traffic on the railway line between Mestre, on the coast, and the center of Venice, on the lagoon, was interrupted.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni immediately expressed “his deep condolences”. “I am in contact with Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and Minister [des transports] Matteo Salvini to follow the news of this tragedy »she wrote in a press release.