The steering breaks, making the bus uncontrollable, with the vehicle slipping on the worn and damaged protective barriers, before falling into the void from the overpass. This is the dynamic of the dramatic accident that occurred on 3 October last year in Mestre, in which 22 people lost their lives. The first phase of the expert reports has now concluded, some of which have made it possible to reconstruct the causes of the massacre.
Mestre massacre: the causes of the accident
As confirmed by the chief prosecutor of Venice Bruno Cherchi, the main suspect under accusation is the steering system of the bus: “A consultancy has verified the breakage of the joint that connects the steering wheel to the wheels. A breakage not resulting from other impacts, but caused by the failure of a pin in the transmission system”. Precisely the failure of this pin would have made the vehicle ungovernable and impossible to brake: the bus then slipped along the “damaged” barrier until it reached the gap where it fell.
From the reports delivered this morning to the Prosecutor’s Office, the poor condition of the barriers on the Mestre flyover, dating back to the 1970s, also emerged, which may have played a role in the tragedy: “The conditions of the barriers on the Mestre flyover were not good. For the consultant were unable to withstand a crash like the one that occurred. They were worn out and had suffered from a lack of maintenance.”
The images and the autopsy on the driver
“There are images – added the prosecutor – taken by the cameras inside the bus, which record the last moments experienced by the passengers before it goes down the overpass, but they have not been disclosed, except to the parties, due to their dramatic nature A decision dictated by the fact that we capture the exact moment of the collision and the reaction of many occupants, including minors. This is why we have decided to prohibit its diffusion and public viewing.” In addition to the tightness of the arms and the ancient guardrail, the reports delivered to the Prosecutor’s Office also concerned the autopsy of the driver Alberto Rizzotto, the only Italian victim, the investigations into the heart, which would have ruled out an illness: “The behavior of the driver was correct – conclude the magistrates -. From the collection of data on the mobile phone and from the images of the cameras it appears that the driver received emails and messages in those situations, but never used the mobile phone during the race”. The autopsy showed that Rizzotto died following serious head injuries suffered when the bus fell from the overpass.
