A bus veers off the A116 highway near Avellino, smashes through concrete barriers

Jul 29, 2013 06:42 GMT  ·  By

A bus crash in the Avellino area in southern Italy has caused at least 37 deaths. Firefighters have pulled 37 bodies out of the wreckage of a bus that plummeted off a highway.

The Independent reports that the vehicle flew off the A116 autostrada once in the Naples area. The highway connects western and eastern Italy.

The tour bus was carrying tourists back from a pilgrimage near Benevento. The town is home to a thermal spa, but near it you can find the home of late mystic monk Padre Pio.

Witnesses watched the bus reach Monteforte Irpino in Irpinia at normal speeds and veer off its course all of a sudden.

They believe that they heard the sound made by a tire blowing, according to a local news investigator. A video of a report on the crash has been featured above.

The bus smashed into a number of cars before going through a guardrail and tearing down concrete barriers, then ending up in a ravine. It was a 30-meter (98-feet) fall.