Franco Debernardi
An investigation has been launched into the death of a German man, crushed to death while on a gondola ride with his family vacationing in Venice, Italy. The 50-year-old tourist along with his wife and three children were thrown from the flat-bottomed boat as it collided with a water bus, or a “vaporetto." The driver of the water bus told authorities that he did not see them. The tourist was squeezed between the two vessels and a three-year-old sustained head injuries and is being treated at a nearby hospital. Safety concerns have been voiced in the past regarding visibility of the small boats, mostly used as tourist attractions, in the city’s crowded Grand Canal. Similar accidents were reported in 2004 and 2011, but the tourists thrown from their boats all survived.