Water taxi collides with fishing boat in Venice lagoon, husband injured, wife missing
A water taxi and a small fishing boat crashed in the Tessera canal of Venice early Saturday, leaving the fisherman severely injured and his wife still unaccounted for.
At approximately 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, a water taxi heading toward Venice's Marco Polo Airport struck a local wooden boat, known as a “cofano,” in the Tessera waterway. The impact left 25-year-old fisherman Sean Michieli with extensive trauma and a critical cranial injury; he was rushed by Suem 118 personnel to the Angelo hospital in Mestre, where he remains in intensive care. His 26-year-old wife, Gabriella Querino, who was traveling with him, has not been located and search operations by fire-department divers and the Venice Carabinieri boat squad are ongoing.
Police reported that darkness limited the taxi driver’s visibility, and the taxi has been confiscated for further investigation, though no security cameras cover the area. The small boat was recovered from the canal floor, but no trace of the missing woman has been found yet.
