- Bus was carrying around 50 Italians between Monteforte Irpino and Baiano in the southern region of Campania
- Lost control and slammed into several cars that had slowed down in traffic before smashing through guardrail
- At least 39 bodies were pulled from inside and underneath wreckage before being placed into coffins at scene
- The victims were a close-knit group of friends and relatives and whole families had been wiped out in the disaster
- They had been on weekend trip to hot springs and to visit the birthplace of last Italian saint Padre Pio in Pietrelcina
- Five young children rescued as firefighters used electric saws to cut through twisted metal looking for survivors
- Firefighter: 'All I saw were shadows, metal and broken glass. And then I heard the cries. It made my blood run cold'
- Girl, 10, pulled alive describes hearing shouting and a 'strong smell of burning' as she lay trapped in the wreckage
- Passenger in one of vehicles hit by coach said: 'It suddenly began to rain cars. It seemed the apocalypse had come'
- British Foreign Secretary William Hague expresses his 'sincere condolences' to the victims and their families
By Mark Duell, Simon Tomlinson and Hannah Roberts
PUBLISHED: 17:51 EST, 28 July 2013 | UPDATED: 08:52 EST, 29 July 2013
Distraught relatives gathered at a makeshift morgue to visit the bodies of the Italian coach disaster today as witnesses revealed the full horror of the crash that has killed at least 39 men, women and children.
Around 50 Italian tourists were on board the bus last night when it lost control on a highway, smashed into a line of cars and careered through a guardrail before plunging 100ft into a ravine.
The victims were a close-knit group of friends and relatives and whole families had been wiped out, Italian media reported as police opened an investigation into multiple manslaughter.
One of the first firefighters to arrive described horrific scenes of children screaming and their desperate parents calling out to them in the dark amid a mass of crumpled metal and bodies.
Emilio Matarazzo said: 'I heard children weeping and crying out inside the carcass of the coach. That was what made my blood run cold.'? Another rescue worker was heard calling out: 'We need 40 coffins.'
One visitor to the morgue, set up at a nearby school, lost four members of his family, while another wept as he told how his sister and brother-in-law had died.
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Horrific: Rescuers place bodies into coffins as they recover victims who died when a bus plunged off a motorway into a ravine near Avellino in southern Italy
Horrific: Rescuers wielding electric saws cut through metal looking for survivors inside the mangled bus, stopping occasionally in silence to listen for any cries for help
Devastation: Reports said the passengers, who came from the Naples area, were travelling back from either a day in Puglia or a visit to a thermal spa area near Benevent
Clear-up operation: As it fell, the bus tore away whole sections of concrete barriers which lay in large chunks in a clearing in a wooded area where the coach landed
Carnage: Firefighters stand near the wreckage of the bus which plunged 30m (98ft) off a motorway into a ravine, killing at least 39 people
Rescuers wielding electric saws cut through the twisted metal looking for survivors inside the mangled bus, stopping occasionally in silence to listen for any cries for help, even as the bodies were put into coffins to be taken to a morgue.
Five young children were pulled to safety, but several others are thought to have been killed.
Relatives, many of whom heard the news on TV, gathered at a makeshift funeral parlour set up at a local school within hours of the crash.
Mario Terracciano, who lost his mother Barbara, her father and his uncle and aunt, all from Pozzuoli, said: ?I heard that they came from Telese Terme, I knew right away that it was them.
'I had spoken to my mother only a few hours before. She had been worried about my lunch. My uncle and aunt were simple people who just wanted a few hours of serenity.?
Another man man called Mena, also from Pozzuoli, wept as he learnt that his sister and brother-in-law had been killed.
He said: ?I spoke to my sister for the last time at 8.30pm last night. She was happy, she was calm. Until the very last moment we hoped that she was still alive.?
Inconsolable: The victims were a close-knit group of friends and relatives and whole families had been wiped out, Italian media reported
Grieving: Relatives gather outside the gym facility of a nearby elementary school which has been turned into a makeshift morgue in the wake of the crash
Shock: Friends and loved ones comfort one another at a nearby school in Monteforte Irpino where the bodies of the crash victims have been taken
Distraught: A crying man is comforted by a police officer (left), while two women hug each other as they visit the temporary funeral parlour at a nearby school
Too much to bear: Many relatives of the victims only found out about the tragedy when it was reported on TV
Prime Minister Enrico Letta said: 'It's truly truly terrible. A very sad day, words are inadequate.'
Mr Letta, on a trip to Greece to meet the Greek Prime Minister, observed a minute's silence before starting his speech and has cancelled a private visit to the Acropolis.
The bus lost control near the town of Monteforte Irpino in Irpinia, a largely agricultural area about 40 miles (60 kilometers) inland from Naples and about 250 kilometers (160 miles) south of Rome.
According to Italy's Transport Minister, the death toll stood at 39, with ten people seriously wounded, including six children. In addition to these, there are 14 occupants of the six cars hit by the bus who suffered minor injuries.
It was not clear whether there was any mechanical damage to the vehicle's brakes or problems with its tyres or whether there was any fault on the part of the driver, who was killed in the crash.
Alessio Barbarulo, head of the local fire brigade division that coordinated the rescue effort, also questioned the effectiveness of the barriers alongside the motorway.
'You would think that the barriers on the viaducts and bridges should prevent this type of accident but evidently it seems the impact was so strong that even the barrier gave way,' he said.
Taking it all in: Onlookers gather next to debris at the crash site as police open an investigation in multiple manslaughter
'It's truly terrible': Prime Minister Enrico Letta observed a minute's silence before starting his speech on a trip to Greece to meet his Greek counterpart
Poignant: Firefighters collect personal belongings of the passengers before the coach is removed from the scene
Holiday horror: A crane lifts up the wreckage of a bus which toppled off the highway above killing at least 38 tourists in the southern region of Campania in Italy
Tragic: Five young children were pulled to safety, but several others are thought to have been killed. The bus driver was also believed to be among the dead
A ten-year-old girl who had been on holiday with her grandmother was pulled from the wreckage alive before being taken to hospital.
With a black and blue face and swollen lip, Arianna told Il Messagero: 'I was asleep. Then I woke up to the shouting and the strong smell of burning.'
The schoolgirl, from Arcofelice near Naples, was supposed to be using the trip to make new friends before starting a new school in September.
Her mother was supposed to be on the holiday as well, but in the end had decided to stay at home with Arianna?s five-month-old baby sister. The fate of her grandmother Luigia is not yet known.
Mr Matarazzo, the chief of the first fire squad to arrive on the scene, earlier said he heard the cries of children as he approached the wreckage.
Sifting through the debris: According to Italy's Transport Minister, the death toll stood at 39, with ten people seriously wounded, including six children
Personal: Shoes and other belongings are seen where the coach crashed after plunging off a viaduct near the southern town of Avellino
Other personal items at the scene: A ten-year-old girl who had been on holiday with her grandmother was pulled from the wreckage alive before being taken to hospital
Heartbreaking: A cross (left) is placed next to the wreckage, which included personal items such as shoes, sandals (right) and other items of clothing
Possessions: Other reports said the passengers might have visited Benevento, which was the home of Padre Pio, a late mystic monk popular among Catholics in Italy
A sun hat and a religious image were among the objects found at the scene. The group had spent the weekend at the hot springs Telese Terme
He told La Repubblica: 'I heard children weeping and crying out inside the carcass of the coach and the voices of their mother and father who called out to them. But I couldn't see anything. It was all dark.
'Initially we didn't even know what had happened. When we arrived there were cars stopped on the Aqualonga viaduct and the guardrail was broken.
'It was completely black - we couldn't see anything. My colleages and I went down. When we reached the coach we managed to lift the weight and pull five children out. They were crying and they were injured and were taken to hospital.
'We couldn't do more. There were people trapped between the seats and the roof of the coach. It was ghastly.'
Crumpled: Reports said as many as 49 Italians had been aboard the bus when it ripped through a guardrail after slamming into cars slowed down by traffic
Twisted metal: Firefighters said most of the dead were found inside the mangled bus while a few of the victims were pulled out from underneath the wreckage
Mangled: The bus veered off the highway after it had smashed into several cars that were slowed by heavy traffic, said police and rescuers?
Flashing signs near Avellino, outside Naples, had warned of slowed traffic ahead along a stretch of a major highway crossing southern Italy, before the crash occurred, said highway police and officials, speaking on state radio early Monday.
It was not immediately clear why the bus driver lost control of the vehicle.
Vincenzo D'Aniello, a clerical worker from Tirrenia near Pisa who was in one of the cars that were hit by the coach, said: 'I thought I was dead.
'We are alive only because of a miracle. From behind it suddenly began to rain cars. I've never seen anything like it. I saw cars turn over. A Fiat Panda flew past my head. It seemed that the apocalypse had come. I believe the coach lost control of its brakes.'
Crumpled: The bus lost control near the town of Monteforte Irpino in Irpinia, an agricultural area about 40 miles inland from Naples and about 160 miles south of Rome
Tragedy: The bus was thought to be carrying around 50 Italians, including children, home from an excursion when it lost control on a highway
Investigation: Police said the driver, for reasons not yet known, appeared to have lost control of the bus
Mr D'Aniello walked out of the accident unharmed. He said: 'My aunt who was in the car with me broke her arm. I was completely unharmed, I don't know how.'?
A reporter for Naples daily Il Mattino, Giuseppe Crimaldi, told Sky TG24 TV from the scene that some witnesses told him the bus had been going at a 'normal' speed on the downhill stretch of the highway when it suddenly veered and started hitting cars.?
He said some witnesses thought they heard a noise as if the bus had blown a tyre before it plunged 30m (98ft) into undergrowth below.
Hours after the crash, firefighters said that they had extracted 39 bodies - most of the dead were found inside the mangled bus, which lay on its side, while a few of the victims were pulled out from underneath the wreckage, state radio and the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Macabre: Rescuers prepare the coffins of victims as the recovery operation continues through the night
Serious crash: Rescuers line up the bodies of victims of a bus crash last night
Wreckage: Witnesses said the bus had been going at a 'normal' speed on the downhill stretch of the highway when it suddenly veered and started hitting cars
Occupants of cars which were hit by the bus stood on the highway near their vehicles.
One car's rear was completely crumpled, while another was smashed on its side. It was not immediately known if anyone in those cars had been injured.
On the bus were those who had decided to spend the weekend at the hot springs Telese Terme. A day trip on Sunday had included a trip to the birthplace of the last Italian saint, Padre Pio the village of Pietrelcina, in Campania.?
The organiser of the trip 'as always' was Luciano Caiazzo, a butcher from Pozzuoli near Naples, who did not survive the crash friends and relatives said.
Anna Caiazzo, a co-worker told Corriere della Sera: ?A month ago he turned 40. We?d had a surprise party for him. Within ten days we were supposed to go on holiday to Croatia. All together, as always.?
Map: The coach was travelling between Monteforte Irpino and Baiano in the southern region of Campania
A spokesman for the British Embassy in Rome said there were so far no UK nationals among the dead and injured.
She said: 'We are monitoring the situation as we are concerned that there may have been British victims in the cars that were hit, if not the coach. Our consulate in Naples has been checking with authorities on the ground and there are none so far.'
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the coach crash in Italy.
He said: 'On behalf of the British Government, I express my sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of all of those who lost their lives in yesterday?s tragic coach crash. Our thoughts are with them at this very difficult time.'
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