Three teenagers have died after a ‘drunk driver’ carrying nine people in his car crashed into a canal in Milan.
The 19-year-old driver, an Italian citizen, was driving at dawn today when the Audi he was operating crashed into the Villoresi canal in Senago, in the Milan area.
The driver, who has not yet been named, is being investigated for alleged aggravated vehicular homicide.
He reportedly tested positive for alcohol in his system.
Harrowing footage recorded by local media showed a crane slowly lifting the car out of the canal.
Local media reported that police and firefighters were at the scene, and that divers went into the river to search for the bodies. Emergency services were called at around 5.30am today.
A bridge going over the canal appeared to be closed off by police who were still working at the scene of the incident.
The teenagers who passed away, two boys and a girl, were all 17. While the girl died shortly after being taken to hospital, the boys were both found dead in the car.
Three teenagers have died after a ‘drunk driver’ carrying nine people in his car crashed into a canal in Milan
The 19-year-old driver, an Italian citizen, was driving at dawn today when the Audi he was operating crashed into the Villoresi canal in Senago, in the Milan area
The others in the car, who were between the ages of 17 and 19, were all injured in the horror incident.
The public prosecutor’s office in Milan has already ordered autopsies for the dead victims.
Matteo Salvini, the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, weighed in on the incident.
In a social media post, he said: ‘Three young lives lost, six young people injured. Nine people in the same car ended up in a canal, the driver drunk. Unacceptable.
‘We can pass all the laws possible to increase road safety (the data from the new Highway Code is encouraging, with over 100 fewer deaths than the previous year), but it’s still not enough.
‘The leading cause of death for young people continues to be road accidents, not illness or drugs.
‘I want to write directly to the kids, students and new drivers, I want to reach them in their homes and meet them in schools. Life is sacred and there is only one. A prayer and a thought for the families and friends of the victims of these tragic hours.’
