Bus crash near Venice kills 21 people

At least 21 people were killed when a passenger bus plunged from a bridge in Mestre, Italy, near Venice on Tuesday, according to Italian authorities speaking to local media, in what has been described as an "apocalyptic scene."

The bus was traveling from Venice to nearby Marghera and was "full of people returning home from work," Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro told state media RAI.

"It completely went off the road, it flew off the bridge. It was a bus; it was a highway. We are in mourning," he added. Brugnaro described the scene as "apocalyptic" in a post on Facebook.

Morris Ceron, general director of the municipality of Venice, told the Italian public broadcaster RAI that children are among the victims of the crash.

Foreigners are also believed to have been aboard the vehicle, which was headed towards a campsite, he added.

"The identification of the bodies is underway," Ceron told RAI.

Luca Zaia, president of Italy's Veneto region, called the bus crash in northern Italy, "a tragedy of enormous proportions."