Overview

• Emergency teams recovered the bodies of a man and a woman after a white Fiat Panda slid off the embankment and into the Po River on the morning of August 28 near San Benedetto Po in the province of Mantua.
• Firefighters, divers and rescue helicopters searched a wide, fast-flowing stretch of the river in poor weather before locating the victims around midday.
• A motorist who was driving behind the Panda witnessed the plunge and immediately alerted authorities, helping to direct the response.
• Early reporting pointed to heavy rain and the absence of roadside trees as factors, while a later account said investigators were considering a sudden illness at the wheel based on dry asphalt and the lack of skid marks.
• Local media identified the victims as an elderly couple, both 78, as police and prosecutors proceed with standard identification steps and determine the official cause of death.