Italian bus plunge kills 39

Authorities look into possibility of driver error

A tour bus carrying Catholic pilgrims plunged off a highway overpass in southern Italy on Sunday evening, killing at least 39 people.

Local prosecutors on Monday launched an investigation into the possibility that the bus driver was responsible for the accident close to Avellino near Naples, according to Italian media reports.

Italian news agency ANSA said investigators would look into the possible role of the driver in the accident, as well as the state of the coach and the crash barrier on the highway.

ANSA said the driver's body would be examined for the presence of alcohol or drugs while traffic police have seized the vehicle documents from the coach operator, Mondotravel.

Rescuers were still battling on Monday to extract people from the wreckage.

The vehicle, carrying 48 people, was traveling at a high speed when it crashed on a busy divided highway between Naples and Bari in an area Italian media described as an accident black spot.

It rammed several cars before plunging through a crash barrier and down a steep slope before coming to a stop on its side off the road about 50 kilometers from Naples.

The driver was among the dead, and at least 10 people were injured, including children.

Photographers at the scene described how fire crews raced to find any remaining survivors as the victims were laid out under white sheets along the roadside.

"Looking down from the overpass, the scene of the tragedy: some 30 bodies, covered by white sheets, lined up along the roadside," said Cesare Abbate of ANSA.

From time to time, rescue workers called for "a moment of silence" to listen for signs of life from the wreckage, he said.

Another photographer at the scene described a grim scene of rescue workers searching the crash site early on Monday under arc lights set up around the wreckage.

"The situation is critical. Our men are working to save as many lives as possible," fire chief Pellegrino Iandolo said.

Rescue workers said they pulled 33 bodies from the wreckage and found three more that were thrown from the vehicle as it plunged 30 meters down a ravine.

Another three died in the hospital from injuries suffered in the accident.

"We are still trying to extract people from the vehicle," a police spokesman said. "Our priority now is to free the wounded."

One survivor, quoted by his uncle who met him in the hospital, reported hearing a tire exploding and that the driver had been unable to control the vehicle.

The passengers were returning to Naples following a pilgrimage to Pietrelcina, the birthplace of Saint Pio, an Italian Catholic priest canonized in 2002 who is highly venerated in southern Italy.

The Naples-Bari highway has been closed to traffic, the police said.

AFP-Xinhua-Reuters

(China Daily 07/30/2013 page10)