Unlicensed, Uninsured Driver Runs Stop Sign and Flips School Bus in Sicily, Injuring 19

The Crash

A yellow school bus transporting students from the Santa Gemma-Boscarino-Pirandello school was struck and flipped onto its side in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily, on Friday afternoon. The bus was heading toward the coastal hamlet of Borgata Costiera when a Nissan Qashqai, failing to stop at a well-marked intersection, slammed into it. The impact caused the bus to overturn, trapping children and adults inside.

The Victims

A total of 19 people were injured in the collision, including 14 children and 5 adults. The adults on the bus included two teachers and two municipal assistants. Two students were airlifted to the children's hospital in Palermo, one with a fractured wrist and the other with abdominal trauma. No one suffered life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Nissan, a 51-year-old man, was hospitalized along with his pregnant wife and five children who were riding in the back seat.

The Rescue

Assistant Vito Ingrande, 22, was on board the bus and helped pull the nine children to safety through an open window. He had volunteered for the afternoon shift serving Borgata Costiera, which had been without an assistant for two weeks.

It felt like a bomb had gone off; when I opened my eyes I found myself among the last rows of the school bus which was lying on its side.

Ingrande, along with fellow assistant Daniela and driver Giuseppe Di Stefano, passed the children out of the overturned vehicle. He was discharged from the hospital the next morning with pelvic and neck pain.

The Driver

Police investigations revealed that the 51-year-old driver of the Nissan Qashqai had no driver's license and no insurance coverage for his vehicle. He was subjected to an alcohol test at the hospital, with results still pending. The car, which was carrying seven people in total, was seized by authorities. The driver reportedly ran a clearly marked stop sign before hitting the bus.

Community in Shock

Parents in the tight-knit community of Borgata Costiera described moments of panic upon learning of the crash. A 13-year-old girl on the bus told her mother, Angela, that she "saw death face to face." Angela recounted the terrifying moment the phone call from her daughter was cut off, sending her and her husband into a panic before they rushed to the scene.

We were faced with a dramatic scene: that overturned bus and all the children sitting on the ground.

Another mother, Manuela, described the chaos as news spread among a group of parents having lunch together, calling the children of the neighborhood "our children too" and the incident "a blow to the heart."