Sheets cover the bodies of cyclists after a speeding car,
partially seen at right, plowed head-on into their group in
southern Italy. (AP Photo/Adriana Sapone)
A speeding car ploughed head-on into a group of cyclists
in southern Italy on Sunday morning (local time), killing eight
of them, officials said. The driver had been smoking marijuana,
police said.
Bent, mangled bikes were strewn about the scene, and the
sheet-draped corpses dotted the two-lane road near Lamezia
Terme, in the Calabrian "toe" of boot-shaped Italy where the
accident occurred.
In addition to the eight cyclists killed, four people were
injured: two cyclists and the driver and a young boy in the
car with him, said Maria Dolores Rucci, commander of the road
police in nearby Catanzaro.
The ANSA news agency said the driver, who was only slightly
injured, was placed under arrest on charges of multiple
homicide. A police spokesman who declined to give his name
said the man, a Moroccan national, had tested positive for
marijuana.
A preliminary investigation showed the speeding car ran
headfirst into the group of 10 cyclists who were riding in
the opposite direction on state road 18, according to Italy's
highway authority.
ANSA said the driver was trying to pass another car when he
hit the group. Visibility was good at the time, reports said.
The road, closed by authorities for most of the day, reopened
on Sunday evening.
It is common in Italy to see groups of amateur cyclists
taking to small state roads on weekends, and ANSA said the
group hit Sunday was affiliated with a local Lamezia Terme
gym.
As a result of the crash, Italian cycling officials
complained about safety problems for cyclists who have to
share roads with cars.
The head of Italy's cycling federation, Renato Di Rocco,
denounced the violent "massacre" of the cyclists and sent his
condolences to their families.
The mayor of Lamezia Terme, Gianni Speranza, announced a day
of mourning for the dead, ANSA said.
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