FLORENCE, ITALY – Italy mourns the lives of seven female Italian students among the 13 young people killed in Sunday’s (Mach 20, 2016) bus crash in the Catalonia region of Spain.
One of them, Valentina Gallo, studied economics at the University of Florence. Lucrezia Borghi was from Greve in Chianti, few chilometres from Florence. Elena Maestrini was a student from the Tuscan town of Gavorrano, near Grosseto, The other girls who died in the accident are: Francesca Bonello; Elisa Valent; Serena Saracino; Elisa Scarascia Mugnozza.
The families have been informed but have not yet identified the bodies. Six Italians were among other over 30 injured students who were taken to hospital.
The Italians are in hospitals in Tortosa, Reus, Tarragona and Barcelona. Catalonia is holding two days of mourning on Monday and Tuesday.
The bus was taking a group of Erasmus exchange students back to their base in Barcelona after they visited Valencia for the city’s famous Fallas festival.
The 63 years old driver appears to have lost control of the bus, possibly after falling asleep at the wheel. Pope Francis on Monday expressed his sorrow.