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Bus driver’s distracted attention might be behind deadly crash in Italy - police

One Russian national - a female guide - was killed in the crash near the city of Siena, while 19 more Russian tourists were injured

© FABIO DI PIETRO/EPA-EFE

MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. Italian authorities do not rule out that the bus crash that killed a Russian national and injured about 30 more tourists might have been caused by the driver’s distracted attention, Tuscany’s highway police chief Paolo Maria Pomponio said on Wednesday.

"We are not ruling distraction as one of the causes", he said cited by La Repubblica. "It could have been worse, the vegetation cushioned the vehicle’s fall."

The daily reported that the 35-year-old driver was questioned by the police. He tested negative for alcohol.

One Russian national - a female guide - was killed in the crash near the city of Siena, while 19 more Russian tourists were injured. The accident occurred on Wednesday morning on the Siena-Florence highway. The bus carrying 55 people skidded off the road and overturned. Among the passengers were citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Israel. They were heading for Siena from Montecatini Terme on an excursion.

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