Six dead, 34 injured after camper and shuttle bus collide head-on near Lago di Ventina on the Terni-Rieti highway

What happened

A camper van travelling towards Terni crossed into the opposite lane on the SS79 Ternana and was hit head-on by an Autolinee Troiani shuttle bus ferrying tourists to the Marmore waterfall. The collision occurred on Sunday afternoon at the height of Lago di Ventina, in the municipality of Colli sul Velino, in the province of Rieti, on the border between Lazio and Umbria. Two cars were also caught up in the wreckage. Visibility was poor at the time due to a storm. The initial reconstruction by the Rieti traffic police established that the camper invaded the oncoming lane, though investigators have not yet determined why.

Da quello che si vede è chiaro che il camper purtroppo ha invaso la corsia dell'autobus, non sappiamo per quale motivo.

The victims

Six people died in the crash. Giampiero Colasanti, 68, and his wife Daniela Bellanca, 59, from Narni, were in the camper and died at the scene. They were returning from a bikers' gathering in the province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo. The shuttle bus driver, Federico Romualdi, 49, from Terni, also died. Three passengers on the bus were killed: Stefania Laurenzi, 49, from Rome, who died at the scene, and a couple from Massa, Paolo Cosci, 51, and Graziella Baldini, 61, who were on the shuttle. Cosci died in hospital.

The injured and hospital response

A total of 45 people were involved in the crash, according to the Prefecture of Terni. Five escaped unharmed and were accommodated overnight in a facility in Terni. Of the 34 injured, five were classified as code red. By Monday morning, 15 people remained hospitalised across six facilities: Terni (10 patients, two in intensive care), Foligno (8 patients), Spoleto (4 patients), Perugia (1 patient in intensive care with a severe head injury, on mechanical ventilation), Rieti (10 patients, one in code red), and one code-red patient in a Rome hospital. Nineteen patients had already been discharged.

Emergency response

The regional crisis unit was activated immediately after the first call to the 118 emergency number. Umbria's regional president Stefania Proietti described the scene as a "maxi-emergenza, catastrofica" and said the mass-casualty protocol was triggered without hesitation. Six ambulances from the 118 service were deployed, supported by 12 volunteer ambulances, the Nibbio helicopter rescue, a mobile field clinic, 25 medical volunteers, and 35 civil protection volunteers. The Lazio region sent one helicopter and three ambulances. The Prefect of Terni, Antonietta Orlando, convened the Rescue Coordination Centre and activated a dedicated phone line (0744.480458) for relatives.

Sento di dover ringraziare personalmente tutti coloro che sono immediatamente intervenuti sul luogo dell'incidente impegnandosi nei soccorsi, in particolare le Forze dell'ordine, i Vigili del fuoco, il personale sanitario, il Comune di Terni e la Regione Umbria.

Blood donation appeal and road safety

Sergio Commissari, president of the municipal blood donors' association Avis Terni, issued an appeal for blood donations following the crash, asking all those able to book a donation. Proietti, speaking after a coordination meeting at the Prefecture, called the death toll "un bollettino di guerra" and appealed to Anas and all road management bodies to form an alliance to minimise infrastructure-related risks. She stressed that while road accidents cannot be reduced to zero, eliminating causes linked to road conditions is an ethical and moral duty.

Dobbiamo fare un'alleanza per ridurre al minimo le cause legate alle strade, poi non potremo ridurre a zero gli incidenti stradali ma farlo per le cause legate alle strade è un dovere etico-morale e non possiamo sottrarci.