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Car Plows Into German Tourists in Northern Italy, 6 Dead Car Plows Into German Tourists in Italy, Killing 6 and Injuring 11
(about 1 hour later)
ROME — A car plowed into a group of young German tourists in northern Italy early Sunday, killing six people and injuring 11, Italian fire officials said. ROME — A car plowed into a group of young German tourists as they crossed a road in northern Italy to board a bus early on Sunday, killing six people and injuring 11 others, Italian officials said.
The deadly crash occurred in a village near Valle Aurina, near Bolzano in the South Tyrol region, shortly after 1 a.m. as the Germans were standing along the roadside in the town, known as Lutago, close to a bus when the accident happened, a police spokesman said. The driver, 27, who was believed to be from the area, failed a breath-alcohol test at the site, the Italian police said. The man, identified by the police by his initials, SL, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, local reports said.
The Lutago volunteer fire service said in a Facebook post that the six dead had been killed at the scene. The injured were taken to several nearby hospitals. The crash occurred around 1:20 a.m. in the mountain village of Lutago near Valle Aurina in the South Tyrol region, close to the Austrian border, as the Germans were crossing a state road, a spokesman for the military police in the area said.
The news channel Sky TG24 quoted the Italian police as saying that the driver was believed to be from the area and had a high alcohol blood content. The spokesman described the facts as “simple in their cruelty.”
The 27-year-old driver, who failed a breath-alcohol test, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, the police spokesman said. Six people died on impact, according to Lt. Col. Alessandro Coassin of the Bolzano carabinieri, the military police investigating the accident. He said four others were transferred to hospitals in “very serious” condition. Two others were taken to a hospital in Innsbruck, one was assigned to a hospital in Bolzano, and one to a hospital in Brunico.
South Tyrol, or Alto Adige — a largely German-speaking autonomous region of northern Italy, with ski resorts in the Dolomites mountain range and quaint villages around Bolzano — is popular with German tourists. Seven others, including a local woman, were being treated at various hospitals for multiple injuries. “There were dozens of ambulances and rescue vehicles, including helicopters, on the scene,” he said.
The accident occurred on the final long weekend of the Christmas and New Year’s holiday in Italy, which will be capped by Epiphany on Monday. The driver pulled over after the accident and “didn’t run away,” Lieutenant Coassin said. He was taken to a hospital where other tests could be conducted. The lieutenant said his blood-alcohol content was “considerably higher than the legal limit.”
The region’s president, Arno Kompatscher, told a news conference that the victims were part of a group of young Germans in the region on vacation. He declined to identify the make of the car the man had been driving, saying “in these small valleys, every knows who drives certain cars.”
The German Consulate in Milan was assisting local officials to contact the families of the victims, who were “between 19 and 21” of age, he said. He added that some but not all the victims had been identified.
South Tyrol, or Alto Adige — a largely German-speaking autonomous region of northern Italy with ski resorts in the Dolomites mountain range and quaint villages around Bolzano — is popular with German tourists.
The accident occurred on the final long weekend of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays in Italy, which will be capped by Epiphany on Monday.
The region’s president, Arno Kompatscher, said at a news conference that the victims had been part of a group of young Germans in the region on vacation.
They were part of a group of around 80 persons, he said, and a hotline was set up to provide information to their relatives.
“In this sad moment, we are close to the victims and their families,” he said.
In April last year, Portugal said 29 German tourists were killed and 28 others injured after a bus plunged off a road on the island of Madeira. The bus, which was carrying 56 people, rolled down a steep hillside after veering off the road on a bend east of the capital, Funchal, and struck at least one house, Portuguese officials said.