One dead, several injured as bus of Ukrainian refugees overturns in Italy

Vehicle carrying 50 people fleeing fighting was heading south to port city of Pescara when it overturned on major highway

By AP 13 March 2022, 1:10 pm

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A bus that was reportedly carrying Ukranian refugees lies on its side after overturning near Forli, Italy, March 13, 2022. (Vigili del Fuoco via AP)

ROME — A bus carrying about 50 Ukrainian refugees overturned on a major highway in northern Italy at dawn on Sunday, killing one person, Italian firefighters said.

Italian state radio said there were several injured in the accident on the A14 autostrada near Forli’, a town in the Emilia-Romagna region in northeastern Italy. It said the rest of those aboard were safely evacuated.

The bus landed on its side on a grassy slope just beyond a highway guardrail and near a farm field. Firefighters used two cranes in an operation to set the bus upright and remove it.

Italy’s Interior Ministry said the bus had set out from Ukraine and was heading south to Pescara, an Adriatic port city, when it overturned. The passengers were taken to a nearby police barracks for initial assistance, and would later resume their journey, the ministry said.

Some 35,000 Ukrainians refugees who fled war in their homeland have entered Italy, most of them through its northeastern border with Slovenia.