The tragic death toll from a terrible collision between a car and a bus, which occurred late yesterday afternoon on the Ionian-Tyrrhenian expressway, not far from the Gioiosa Jonica junction, is three people dead.
The spouses Salvatore Primerano, 37 years old, originally from Santa Caterina dello Ionio, and Lucia Vellone, 28 years old, both residents of Serra San Bruno, a mountain center in the Serre Vibonesi, parents of two minor children, lost their lives. The third victim, who was traveling in the same car, is Domenico Massa, 44 years old, also from Serra San Bruno, a neighbor of the Vibonese couple. The latter, still alive after the impact, was rescued and transported urgently by air ambulance to the Catanzaro hospital. Here, however, despite the timely intervention of the doctors, he died shortly after his arrival. Attempts to save him from death were to no avail.
The agents of the Siderno Polstrada directed by the chief inspector, Giovanni Mariella, the carabinieri, the firefighters of the Siderno detachment, the health personnel of 118 and some Anas teams immediately went to the site of the accident. Traffic, in both directions, was blocked for a few hours also because the two vehicles, the Ford with the three deceased people on board and the Federico company bus, were stuck on the road. Before traffic was diverted onto internal provincial roads, through the Gioiosa and Marina di Gioiosa interchanges, long columns of vehicles formed in both directions.
No clear details had emerged about the dynamics of the tragic accident until yesterday evening. It will take time to understand what really happened late yesterday afternoon on an artery with a very high level of danger such as the Ionian-Tyrrhenian highway. What is certain, at present, is that the very violent impact between the Ford of the spouses from Serra San Bruno and the bus was head-on. In the collision, the entire front part of the car was literally destroyed, reducing it to a veritable mass of sheet metal, which imprisoned the three people on board without escape. Pending, however, the conclusion of the investigations by the Siderno Polstrada agents, the Locri prosecutor’s office (with the deputy on duty Rosamaria Pantano) ordered the precautionary seizure of the two vehicles, entrusting the two vehicles to the Locrian company “AZ Service” in judicial custody after removal from the roadway.
Dismay and condolences, obviously in Serra San Bruno, as soon as the news of the tragic toll of the road accident arrived.