(see related)
Venice Prosecutor Bruno Cherchi on
Wednesday ruled out the hypothesis that the bus that plunged
from an overpass in Mestre on Tuesday had come into contact with
another vehicle.
"We are working on (establishing) the dynamics of the accident,
in which the bus touched the guardrail, slid along it for about
50 metres and, in the end, plummeted to the ground with a
further push to the right," Cherchi said regarding the accident
that claimed 21 lives.
"There are no signs of braking, or contact with other vehicles,"
he added.
Cherchi said the alarm was first raised by the driver of another
bus that was alongside the disaster bus on the overpass.
He said the possibility that the two bus had collided on the
overpass had also been ruled out by eye-witnesses.
"The witnesses said that it (the second bus) was going slowly,
the stretch of road it is uphill and in any case, objectively
speaking, it does not make high speeds possible," Cherchi said,
while stressing that this would be verified.
The disaster-bus driver's colleagues said he was an experienced
professional.
One hypothesis is that he may have had a bad turn while at the
wheel of the electric bus - it had initially been reported that
the bus was a hybrid vehicle that was also powered by methane.
"Identifying the victims is difficult," Cherchi said.
"Many did not have documents with them".
He said he had ordered forensic doctors to do DNA tests if
necessary and he hoped all the victims could be identified by
Thursday.
He said it would probably not be necessary to do autopsies on
the victims, apart from the driver.
"It is our wish to return the bodies to the relatives as soon as
possible," he said.
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