Highway 79: A bus hits a camper van, killing five people and injuring 27.

A rainy and windy afternoon turned into a veritable carnage along State Road 79 "Ternana." A massive accident in the Colli sul Velino area, near the border between Lazio and Umbria, left five dead and 27 injured.

The fatal collision between a bus and a camper

According to initial investigations by law enforcement, the accident occurred between the Colli sul Velino turnoff and the Piediluco exit. A public bus apparently struck a camper van traveling on the road, violently crushing it and triggering a chain reaction that also involved three cars.

The impact with the recreational vehicle was devastating: the five people on board the camper died instantly, and the rescuers could do nothing for them but certify their deaths.

Impressive rescue machine

The Ares 118 operations center immediately mobilized a large emergency response force. Along with three ambulances and a medical car, a helicopter was dispatched, which provided emergency transportation, under code red, of three injured people in desperate conditions to better-equipped hospitals.

Another 24 people, who suffered moderate to minor injuries (yellow and green codes), were transported to various local hospitals. At least six firefighting teams from the Rieti and Terni provincial headquarters are on site to extricate passengers from the wreckage and secure the roadway.

Bad weather and traffic disruption

The dramatic weather situation is seriously complicating the rescue operations and the routine surveys: the entire area is in fact being hit by heavy rain and strong gusts of wind, which have even caused some trees to fall along the road.

State Road 79 was completely closed to traffic in both directions (both towards Terni and towards Rieti) to allow for rescue operations, the removal of the injured vehicles and the investigations by the Highway Police aimed at ascertaining the exact dynamics of the accident.