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Rescuers say at least 36 dead in bus plunge off southern Italy highway

29 July 2013 08:03 (UTC +04:00)

Flashing signs near Avellino, outside Naples, had warned of slowed traffic along the stretch of the A116 autostrada, a major highway crossing southern Italy, before the crash occurred, said highway police and officials, speaking on state radio early Monday. They said the bus driver, for reasons not yet determined, appeared to have lost control of his vehicle. Hours after the crash, firefighters said that so far they had pulled out 36 bodies and 11 injured people from the mangled wreckage of the bus, which lie on side in a clearance in a wooded area near a road after smashing through a guardrail and plunging some 30 meters (100 feet) below. Italian news reports said the bus could hold a little more than 50 passengers and that it was almost filled on the ride back after an excursion from the southeastern Puglia area, which is popular with Catholic faithful who admire Padre Pio, a late mystic monk who was based there.