Nautical accident in Venice: the search for Gabriella Querino continues, the taxi driver is under investigation

Searches continue unabated in the Tessera Canal but there is still no trace of Gabriella Querino, the 26-year-old missing since Saturday morning in the waters of the Venice lagoon after the violent collision between the small boat on which she was traveling with her husband and a water taxi. The fire brigade divers are involved in the operations, and are also scanning the area with a boat arrived from the Padua command and equipped with an echo sounder. Meanwhile the taxi driver has been booked for nautical homicide.

Research from above

From above the Drago helicopter of the Venice flight department flies over the canal and the surrounding areas in search of any element that could allow the young woman to be identified. For a few hours, traffic in the Tessera Canal, which is particularly busy because it is also used for connections with Venice airport, was interrupted to facilitate operations. Navigation was then reopened in one direction only.

The clash at dawn on Saturday

The accident occurred before dawn on Saturday 12 September. Gabriella Querino was on board the small boat together with her husband Sean Michieli, a 25-year-old clam fisherman from Burano, when the boat collided with a water taxi. After the impact the boat sank. Michieli was recovered and transported in very serious conditions to the Angelo hospital in Mestre, where he was subjected to medical care. His death was declared on Sunday 13 September. However, there has been no further news of his wife since then.

Autopsy on Michieli's body

The investigation by the Venice prosecutor's office is proceeding in parallel with the searches for the 26-year-old, who will have to reconstruct the exact dynamics of the clash. An autopsy will be performed on the body of Sean Michieli, arranged to acquire further elements useful for the investigations. The file is entrusted to prosecutor Daniela Moroni. The driver of the water taxi involved in the accident has been included in the register of suspects in the proceedings opened for nautical homicide. Any responsibilities naturally remain to be ascertained.

The findings on the sunken punt

The investigators also arranged technical investigations on the sunken boat, entrusting them to the experts appointed by the prosecutor's office. The objective is to reconstruct in detail the seconds that preceded the crash. From the findings, we will try in particular to establish at what speed the two boats were traveling, what their direction of travel was and how the impact occurred. While judicial investigations try to shed light on the causes of the accident that cost Sean Michieli his life, attention remains focused on the waters of the Tessera Canal: the priority is to find Gabriella Querino, who has been missing for three days now.