(Rome) The Venice bridge from where a tourist bus fell into the void on Tuesday evening, killing 21 people, was dilapidated and had to be renovated for years, including to plug a “gap” in the safety rail, they said. Italian media reported on Thursday.
A project to renovate this bridge built around fifty years ago was launched in 2016, but the work only started in September and had not yet reached the portion of the bridge where the tragedy occurred, said the Deputy Mayor of Venice responsible for transport, Renato Boraso, in several press interviews.
The electric bus, which was bringing around forty foreign tourists from the historic center to their campsite, hit the safety rail, against which it rolled for several meters before entering a “breach” of 1.5 meters and smashing through a second barrier and finally crashing ten meters below, near a railway line, according to media reconstructions.
PHOTO VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
The precise circumstances of the accident are not yet known, although the preferred hypothesis is that the driver was unwell.
“The two meters without a barrier, that’s how the bus fell,” summarizes the daily The Corriere della Serawhile La Stampa denounces “the safety rail scandal”.
“These barriers are not up to standard according to current legislation, but they were at the time of their design. The gaps would have been plugged next year thanks to the work already decided,” Renato Boraso defended himself in the press. “I am opposed to making our services look like assassins.”
“Since 2016, our services have been involved in repairing this section of the safety rail,” he said, specifying that “we cannot award work worth seven million euros without making a call for tenders”. “Let’s ask ourselves why in Italy a procedure for carrying out work must be so long,” he concluded.
“The work started in September reached up to 400 meters” from where the bus rushed, he said.
The death toll from the tragedy rose to 21 dead and 15 injured, including five in serious condition. In addition to the Italian driver, nine Ukrainians, four Romanians, three Germans, two Portuguese, as well as a Croatian and a South African died.