Another victim on the streets of Rome: the last to lose his life is a 23-year-old young man from Kenya hit by a bus. Just over 24 hours after the tragic accident in Fonte Nuova in which five boys lost their lives, another victim is counted in the capital. The seventeenth since the beginning of the year. The negative record of 2019 was exceeded when there were 16 deaths. Last night around 8pm the boy was mowed down as he crossed the road, not near the pedestrian crossing, at the point where Piazza Re di Roma joins Largo Vercelli.

Rome accident, boys died at Fonte Nuova. “The car was running at 100 km/h.” The camera footage is decisive

RELIEF

The bus, a Terravision bus that shuttles between Termini and the airports of Fiumicino and Ciampino, according to what the traffic policemen of the Tuscolano group in charge of the investigations have ascertained, was traveling without passengers on board. Municipal agents blocked off a part of the square to allow rescue operations and then the surveys. An ambulance from 118 immediately intervened on the spot and then a medical car. However, the doctors were unable to do anything except ascertain the victim’s death. Also present are two police flyers.

THE RECONSTRUCTION

The municipal agents immediately started the investigations: experts and technicians carried out the surveys on the crash site. According to an initial reconstruction, the pedestrian was crossing the road away from the crossing. He had almost reached the square’s gardens when the bus ran over him and killed him instantly. From an initial external investigation, the impact with the heavy vehicle would have been fatal. «I felt a sudden braking – says a witness present in Piazza Re di Roma at the time of the dramatic accident – I turned around and saw that man thrown to the ground. I managed to see that poor man on the ground. He didn’t move, I immediately understood that he was already dead ». Many people and onlookers immediately gathered on the spot. Police officers were forced to ask for additional black bags to conceal the body. Police and traffic wardens then started the procedure for recognizing the victim.

THE VICTIM

From what has been ascertained up to now, it would be a 23-year-old boy of Kenyan origin. Investigators also determined that the victim was on foot. Again: the agents listened to some testimonies to reconstruct the exact dynamics. Furthermore, some images of the video surveillance cameras present in the square were viewed. The seizure of the heavy vehicle has also been ordered: to ascertain the possibility of the driver’s responsibility, who now risks being charged with vehicular homicide, it will be crucial to ascertain the technical conditions of the heavy vehicle. Meanwhile, the driver himself, already yesterday evening, was accompanied and listened to for a long time in the offices of the municipal command.

THE DATA

Already exceeded the 15 victims who had registered in 2021. Equaled January 2019 when 16 other people died: 11 drivers 2 passengers and 3 pedestrians, according to Istat data. The Capital is therefore confirmed as a dangerous city in terms of mobility: over 11,000 road accidents overall in 2022 with 121 deaths (104 in 2020 and 131 in 2019) and 13,862 injured (compared to 10,452 in 2020 and 15,919 in 2019).