Mestre crash: Baby among victims of 'tragedy of the young'

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 4 - Italy was in shock on Wednesday after 21 people died when a bus plunged from an overpass above a railway line between the Venice districts of Mestre and Marghera on Tuesday.
    Rescuers said it was mostly a "tragedy of young or very young people".
    Paolo Rosi, the coordinator of Suem 118 Veneto emergency service unit, told ANSA that a baby, a 12-year-old child and an older minor were among the victims.
    He said four of the injured people were in intensive care.
    Venice Prefect Michele Di Bari said Wednesday that the local council and the Veneto regional government were requesting the declaration of three days of mourning.
    "It is a time of mourning for everyone, a time to remain silent.
    Both the President of the Region (Luca Zaia) and the Mayor (Luigi Brugnaro) have asked the premier's office to declare three days of mourning, with flags at half-mast throughout the region," Di Bari told reporters.
    He said seven victims have been identified so far - five Ukrainian citizens, one German and the bus's Italian driver.
    He said four of the injured are Ukrainian, one German, one French, one Croatian, two Spanish and two Austrian.
    Four of the injured people are yet to be identified.
    Three of them are minors, a Ukrainian hospitalized in Padua and two Germans in Treviso.
    Veneto Governor Luca Zaia said he was particularly worried about a three-year-old girl who suffered serious burns in the crash.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday expressed her "most profound condolences" and said she was thinking of the victims and their families and friends.
    The bus was travelling from the centre of Venice to a camping site.
    Venice prosecutors have opened an investigation to establish what happened.
    The driver's colleagues said he was an experienced professional.
    One hypothesis is that he may have had a bad turn while at the wheel.
    The wreckage of the bus was removed from the scene of the accident overnight and taken to a depot. (ANSA).