Water taxi collision in Venice lagoon leaves one critically injured and one missing

Collision in the Tessera Canal

A collision between a commercial water taxi and a small private motorboat occurred between 05:00 and 05:30 on Saturday, 12 September 2026, in the Tessera Canal near Venice. The impact took place in unlit waters near the island of Tessera, along the primary navigational channel linking the Fondamenta Nove transit terminal to Venice Marco Polo Airport. Traveling aboard the small vessel, an orange craft known locally as a cofano, were 25-year-old clam fisherman Sean Michieli from Burano and his 26-year-old wife, Gabriella Querino. The couple had left home before dawn to gather bait worms on the salt marshes for Michieli and his colleagues ahead of the upcoming fishing week.

Initial assessments by investigators indicate that the small boat was crossing the channel diagonally between shallow mudflats when it collided with the water taxi, which was proceeding along the airport route. Navigational conditions were complicated by darkness and low tide across the pre-marsh area. The water taxi driver, who escaped without physical injury, notified emergency services and told investigators that darkness prevented him from seeing the cofano before the collision.

Medical treatment and search operations

The force of the impact threw the occupants of the cofano into the water and sank the vessel. Rescuers pulled Sean Michieli from the canal with polytrauma and severe cranial injuries. Emergency personnel transported him to the intensive care unit at Ospedale dell'Angelo in Mestre, where surgeons conducted two operations to address his head trauma. His medical condition remains critical under a guarded prognosis.

Gabriella Querino, a Brazilian-born woman who married Michieli in June 2026, could not be found following the crash. Because the initial rescue operation recovered only Michieli, authorities initially lacked confirmation of how many passengers were on the boat. Concerns grew after relatives and acquaintances reported that Querino regularly joined her husband on the water and could not be reached by phone. Emergency services subsequently expanded a multi-agency search operation across the surrounding waters and mudflats.

Investigation and lagoon recovery efforts

The waterborne unit of the Carabinieri and firefighter divers from Venice are directing the technical investigation and underwater recovery. Search personnel deployed a specialized drifting vessel designed to navigate the very low water levels characteristic of the lagoon's pre-marsh zones. By Saturday evening, divers located the sunken remains of the cofano on the canal floor, though recovery operations were deferred pending technical preparations. Judicial authorities placed both the submerged hull and the water taxi under formal seizure for mechanical and forensic evaluation.

Carabinieri investigators confirmed that no public surveillance cameras or third-party witnesses recorded the incident in that dark section of the canal. The inquiry is examining navigation speeds, crossing angles, and vessel lighting. The incident affects a family with deep roots in Burano's fishing sector, which experienced a similar maritime tragedy nearly twenty years earlier when Michieli's 19-year-old uncle died in a collision near Fondamenta Nove.