Tragic end of a school trip to Italy: In a traffic accident on the Mediterranean coast of Tuscany, two schoolgirls from Duisburg lost their lives. The two teenagers – born in 2005 and 2006 – were hit by a car at the beach resort Lido di Camaiore, which drove into a group of pedestrians for reasons not yet clarified. According to the Italian police, a total of seven people were injured, including another student from the graduating class. One of the victims was still in critical condition the following morning.
The two young women attended the Gesamtschule Duisburg-Mitte, according to the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Education. They were students in their final year Q2 and were on a study trip in Tuscany. School psychologists were on site. The school is receiving all necessary support. However, the ministry requested that it be respected that the school community needs a protected space to process the events.
The driver was speeding
According to the police, the driver, a 44-year-old woman of Brazilian descent who has now been placed under house arrest, lost control of her vehicle on Wednesday evening around 7 PM in the town center of the resort. Eyewitnesses reported that she was driving at a very high speed. The details surrounding the accident were still unclear the following morning. The police took a blood sample from the woman to determine if alcohol or drugs were involved. A spokesperson for the traffic police refrained from commenting on the results upon request from the German Press Agency in the morning.
The seven injured individuals were taken to various hospitals in the area, according to a report by the Italian news agency Ansa. Italian media reports indicated that the person in critical condition was a woman of about 60 years old. The accident site in the town center was still closed off the following morning. The main tourist season in the coastal towns of Tuscany has ended a few days ago. However, many vacationers, including several school groups from abroad, are still present there.
“She stared blankly into space”
Several eyewitnesses reported that the woman sped through the town center at an enormous velocity. It is said that she ran two red lights. Several pedestrians were struck head-on by the car. Nevertheless, the woman continued driving, it was reported. Eventually, she crashed her vehicle near a hotel into several parked cars, bringing her ride to an end. A boy recounted: “The woman seemed completely absent. She stared blankly into space.”
The mayor of Camaiore, Marcello Pierucci, reported that the two German students were the first ones to be run over. “Such a thing has never happened before,” Pierucci told TV channel 50 Canale. “The car ran over everything in its way, even after the second impact.” An eyewitness described the vehicle on the Rai television channel with the words: “It was like a bullet.” An employee of a nearby hotel stated at the end of the ride: “We heard a tremendous bang. It was like a bomb exploding.”
The municipality of Lido di Camaiore is located directly by the sea, about a half-hour drive west of the popular city of Lucca and north of Pisa. The beachfront promenade is closed to vehicle traffic. The accident occurred a few hundred meters away in the center of the town. In the immediate vicinity of Lido di Camaiore are the well-known bathing resorts of Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio.