Venice Gondola Crash: German Tourist Dies on Ride in Italian Canal

A tourist was crushed to death in Venice, when a gondola ride in the famed Grand Canal took a dire turn.

The 50-year-old man and his wife and three children were visiting Italy from their home country of Germany, and took a gondola ride through the winding, watery avenues of Venice's Ponte di Rialto.

Suddenly, the gondola they were riding in slammed into a water bus, or "vaporetto."

The group was tossed into the water due to the force of impact.

The father died not long after, crushed between the two barges.

The bus was either leaving or pulling into the Rialto stop when the accident happened, the BBC reported.

One of the man's three-year-old daughters was taken to a hospital in Padua for head injuries.

According to the Venice fire chief of staff Giovanni Carlesso, who spoke with the BBC shortly after the accident, the bus didn't see the gondola coming.

Mayor of Venice Giorgio Orsoni expressed grief at the news, saying that he was "really sad" that this event happened.

Officials are conducting an investigation into the crash.

For centuries, gondolas were the central mode of transport in the canals. Now, they largely function as tourist attractions.

This is not the first time an accident has occurred on a gondola, although deaths are rare.

Four Spanish tourists were involved in a crash in 2011, when a motorboat steered into the helm of a flat-bottom gondola they were riding in. No one suffered critical injuries, and they were rescued.

A group of Dutch tourists were also thrown into the water when their gondola was hit in 2004.

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