Friends asking: does anyone have a spare room in Townsville?
Serena Andreatta, una joven de 26 años nacida en Rosario, murió en Queensland, Australia, cuando el colectivo en el que viajaba volcó sobre la Bruce Highway tras colisionar con otro vehículo. Había pasado meses recorriendo el mundo —Asia, Italia, el litoral australiano— construyendo una vida de movimiento y apertura, antes de que un accidente nocturno interrumpiera ese camino. Su amiga Valentina Accardi sobrevivió con heridas, y quienes la conocieron ahora se organizan para que Serena pueda volver a casa, recordándonos que detrás de cada viaje hay una familia que espera.
- Un colectivo con más de 30 pasajeros volcó en la Bruce Highway de Queensland un jueves por la noche, dejando una muerta y múltiples heridos hospitalizados en distintas ciudades del norte australiano.
- Serena Andreatta llegó viva al hospital, pero sus heridas eran demasiado graves: murió poco después, mientras su amiga de viaje Valentina Accardi era internada y comenzaba a recuperarse.
- La familia de Serena, en Argentina, enfrenta ahora la urgencia de viajar al otro lado del mundo para gestionar el velorio y la repatriación, sin haber tenido tiempo de prepararse para ninguna de las dos cosas.
- Sus amigos lanzaron una campaña de recaudación de fondos y publicaron pedidos en redes sociales buscando alojamiento de emergencia en Townsville para la familia que está por llegar.
- La investigación policial continúa: la empresa operadora del colectivo afirma que el conductor no iba a exceso de velocidad y dio negativo en controles de drogas y alcohol, aunque las autoridades aún no confirmaron esos datos oficialmente.
Serena Andreatta tenía 26 años y llevaba meses viajando cuando un colectivo en el que iba con su amiga Valentina Accardi chocó y volcó en la Bruce Highway, una de las rutas principales del noreste de Australia. Las autoridades de Queensland describieron la escena como catastrófica. Ambas fueron rescatadas, pero Serena murió poco después de llegar al hospital. Valentina fue internada en el Hospital Universitario de Townsville, donde los médicos informaron que evolucionaba favorablemente.
Nacida en Rosario, Serena se había graduado de la Escuela Superior de Comercio en 2017. Tenía doble ciudadanía argentina e italiana, y en 2020 se mudó a Italia, donde trabajó en hotelería y luego en tareas administrativas. Llegó a fundar su propio emprendimiento para asesorar a argentinos en la obtención de la ciudadanía italiana. Antes del accidente, había pasado más de seis meses en el Sudeste Asiático —buena parte en Koh Tao, Tailandia— y llegó a Australia el 17 de abril. Dos semanas antes del choque, se reencontró con Accardi en Byron Bay y decidieron seguir viaje juntas hacia el norte.
El conductor del colectivo, de 70 años, resultó con heridas leves. La empresa operadora aseguró que no circulaba a exceso de velocidad y que los controles de sustancias dieron negativo, aunque la policía todavía no confirmó esos datos. Otros pasajeros —mochileros y trabajadores temporarios, entre ellos— fueron trasladados a hospitales de Townsville, Ayr y Bowen.
Los amigos de Serena reaccionaron de inmediato. Lanzaron una campaña de recaudación para ayudar a su familia a costear los gastos funerarios y el viaje desde Argentina hasta Australia. En Instagram, una amiga llamada Valentina publicó un llamado urgente pidiendo alojamiento de emergencia en Townsville para la familia, y solicitando cualquier contacto que pudiera facilitar la logística de quienes deben cruzar el mundo para traer a su hija de vuelta a casa.
Serena Andreatta was 26 years old, from Rosario, traveling through Australia with a friend when a bus carrying more than 30 passengers collided with another vehicle on the Bruce Highway in Queensland and overturned. She died from her injuries. Now her friends are raising money to bring her home.
The crash happened on a Thursday night on one of the main routes connecting Cairns and Airlie Beach in the northeast of Australia. Queensland authorities called the scene catastrophic. Andreatta was on the bus with her friend Valentina Accardi. Both were rescued, but Andreatta's injuries were severe enough that she died shortly after arriving at a hospital. Accardi survived and was admitted to Townsville University Hospital, where doctors said she was being monitored and recovering from her wounds.
The bus driver, 70 years old, sustained only minor injuries. The company operating the bus said he was not speeding and tested negative for drugs and alcohol, though police had not yet confirmed these details. Multiple other passengers—backpackers and temporary workers among them—were hurt in the crash and taken to hospitals in Townsville, Ayr, and Bowen. Paramedics from the Queensland Ambulance Service treated the injured at the scene while traffic investigators worked to document what happened.
Andreatta had been on the road for months. She was born in Rosario and attended the Escuela Superior de Comercio, graduating in 2017. She held both Argentine and Italian citizenship. In 2020, she moved to Italy and worked in hotels as a receptionist and waitress, eventually moving into administrative roles. She even started her own consulting business helping Argentines navigate the process of obtaining Italian citizenship. Over the years, she traveled widely—spending more than six months in Southeast Asia in 2025, much of it on Koh Tao, the diving island in Thailand popular with backpackers.
She arrived in Australia on April 17, spent time in Sydney, and then traveled north. Two weeks before the crash, she met up with Accardi in Byron Bay, a coastal town on the New South Wales coast. The two decided to continue traveling together through Australia. On the night of the accident, they were on the Bruce Highway heading further north when the bus crashed.
Andreatta's friends have launched a fundraising campaign to help her family cover funeral costs and the expenses of traveling to Australia to arrange her repatriation. On Instagram, one friend named Valentina posted asking anyone living in Australia—particularly in Townsville, where Andreatta was hospitalized—to offer emergency housing for the family. The post asked for any contacts that might help, any way to ease the logistics of a family suddenly needing to travel across the world to bring their daughter home.
Citações Notáveis
If you know people in Townsville or someone who can provide urgent accommodation for Sere's family, please write to me. Any contact helps.— Valentina, friend of Serena Andreatta, on Instagram
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does a bus crash in Australia matter enough to tell this story?
Because a young woman from Argentina died, and the people who knew her are scrambling to bring her home. That's not abstract—it's a family that has to fly to the other side of the world to bury their daughter.
But bus crashes happen everywhere. What makes Serena different?
She wasn't just passing through. She'd built a life—worked in hotels, started a business, spent months in Asia. She was the kind of person who figured things out. And then one Thursday night, none of that mattered.
Her friend Valentina survived. What does that mean for her?
It means she watched her traveling companion die. She's in a hospital in Townsville, recovering from injuries, probably replaying the moment the bus flipped. That's its own kind of weight.
The fundraising campaign—is that unusual?
Not really. When someone dies far from home, the logistics become impossible fast. Flights, hotels, funeral arrangements, repatriation of remains. A family in Rosario can't just absorb that cost. So friends do what they can.
What happens next?
The family travels to Australia. They arrange her funeral. They bring her back to Argentina. The investigation continues. But for now, it's just people asking: does anyone have a spare room in Townsville?