Three children among victims as bus crash near Venice kills at least 21 people

In this image made available by Italian State Police, Italian state police agents attend the scene of a passenger bus accident near the city of Venice. Picture: Italian State Police via AP

A bus carrying foreign tourists including Ukrainians has crashed off an elevated street near the Italian city of Venice, killing at least 21 people and injuring 18 others, authorities said.

Four of the injured were in serious condition after the accident in the Mestre borough, on the mainland opposite the historic old city of Venice, said Renato Boraso, a Venice city official.

Two of the dead were children, Venice prefect Michele Di Bari said.

In an update on Wednesday evening, three children including a newborn baby were among the 21 people that were confirmed to have died, according to the Guardian.

Mr Boraso confirmed that some of the victims were Ukrainian and said the bus was taking tourists to a camping site.

Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro said the scene of the crash was “apocalyptic” and he had already declared the “city’s mourning” for the “numerous victims” on the bus.

According to local media, the bus fell a few metres before crashing close to Mestre’s railway tracks, where it caught fire. Emergency crews were on the scene.

Italian premier Giorgia Meloni expressed her “deepest sorrow” after the crash.

Italy has suffered a number of deadly bus crashes in recent years.

In 2017, 16 people on board a bus carrying Hungarian students died in an accident near the northern city of Verona, while in 2013, 40 people died when a bus plunged off a viaduct in southern Italy in one of the country’s worst road accidents