At least 21 people were killed and 18 injured in a fiery bus crash in Mestre, Italy, just across the Venetian Lagoon from old Venice, where firefighters and other emergency responders worked into the night trying to extract bodies and squelch the flames.

The bus was carrying foreign tourists, including Ukrainians, according to a Venice official, when it fell from an elevated street Tuesday en route to a camping site near the community of Marghera.

B次元官网网址淭he people in the bus found themselves surrounded by flames, B次元官网网址� said Mauro Luongo, commander of the Venice firefighters team. B次元官网网址淭he scene we found was terrible. It took about one hour to extract some of the bodies.B次元官网网址�

Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the crash scene was B次元官网网址渁pocalypticB次元官网网址� and declared the city in a state of mourning.

Four of the injured were in serious condition following the accident, which happened on the mainland just 9 km (3.7 miles) northwest of the old city of Venice, said Renato Boraso, a Venice city official. Two of the dead were children, Venice prefect Michele Di Bari said.

The injured were transferred to five different hospitals in the region.

According to local media, the bus fell a few meters before crashing close to MestreB次元官网网址檚 railway tracks, where it caught fire.

The Veneto region governor, Luca Zaia, told RAI state television that the cause of the accident was still unclear.

B次元官网网址淭his is an important tragedy, but itB次元官网网址檚 difficult to understand how it happened,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淭he bus was new and electric, and that street wasnB次元官网网址檛 particularly problematic.B次元官网网址�

In 2017, 16 people on a in an accident near the northern city of Verona. And in 2013, in one of ItalyB次元官网网址檚 worst vehicle accidents when a bus plunged off a viaduct close to the southern city of Avellino.