Arya News - A woman has been arrested in Venice for allegedly stealing a delivery boat on the Grand Canal and crashing it into the 16th-century Rialto Bridge.
Credit: Facebook / Venessia.com
A woman has been arrested in Venice for allegedly stealing a delivery boat on the Grand Canal and crashing it into the 16th-century Rialto Bridge.
The suspect, 20, allegedly commandeered a traditional “topo” boat that was moored beneath the steps of a Renaissance-era palazzo on Thursday morning.
The boat had been left unattended by two workers and was piled with dozens of Christmas packages.
She allegedly took a set of keys stashed in a safe on board to start the engine but sailed only a few metres down the canal before crashing into the bridge.
A crowd of spectators watched from the bridge above as the boat smashed into three bollards and its cargo tumbled overboard.
Officials have cordoned off the crash site by the Rialto Bridge, which spans Venice’s Grand Canal - SirioPx/SplashNews
The boat was then reversed into a marble balustrade supporting the bridge, causing further damage.
Footage of the aftermath, filmed by one spectator, shows the suspect gingerly stepping off the boat on to nearby steps strewn with rubble.
Police said the suspect caused approximately £80,000 worth of damage. No injuries were reported.
The boat was owned by the Brussa shipping company and operated by the delivery firm FedEx.
Alvise Brussa, director of the shipping company, accused the suspect of also rifling through employees’ belongings and stealing cigarettes from a backpack.
The 20-year-old woman, said to be of Tunisian origin, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated theft and related offences shortly after the crash.
No injuries were reported but the damage to the iconic bridge in Venice could run into the tens of thousands - SirioPx/SplashNew
Venetian authorities said the suspect would be banned from the city for a minimum of three years and was scheduled to attend a court hearing on Friday.
The suspect is said to be known to police and was from the nearby city of Padua, 25 miles away.
Giovanni Giusto, a stonemason who arrived on site for an initial damage assessment, said: “The restoration will be difficult, but not impossible.
“The first thing to do is to recover all the fragments, even those that ended up in the water, but we’ll also need to use our imagination because not all of them will be found.”
One witness, who gave his name as Simon, told Il Gazzettino, a local newspaper: “It was being driven at high speed, with the throttle down.
“When you do that, the boat tilts, meaning the bow rises due to the force of the engine, creating a large wave.”
The boat picked up such force that it “disintegrated” the marble on impact, he said.
“We even saw the Istrian stone explode… I’ve never seen such a violent crash. We shouted for the engine to be turned off, but the woman ran away.”
The Rialto Bridge, built by the Venetian architect Antonio da Ponte between 1588 and 1591, is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions and is the oldest of the four bridges that spans the canal.
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