Several NGOs and hospitals based in cities near where the collision occurred, in the southern region of Puglia, sent out an urgent request for blood on Tuesday, local media reported.
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As there was no hi-tech signaling system in place, station managers had to call each other to say when trains were en route, meaning that all other traffic had to be kept in the station until the track cleared.
After a head-on train collision killed 20 people in the southern Italian region of Puglia, Pope Francis voiced his grief over the incident and offered prayers for the victims and their families.
“I don’t know what happened, it all happened so quickly, I don’t know”, one woman, who is eight months pregnant, told the Associated Press.
Rescuers were still searching for the driver of one of the trains that collided head-on while traveling down the same stretch of track linking the small towns of Corato and Andria in the southeastern Puglia region in Italy’s heel. Under the system, he said, the stationmaster can only allow the train to leave if it is confirmed that the line is free at the arrival station, allowing only one train at a time on the single railway. Two passenger trains are seen after a collision in the middle of an olive grove in the southern village of Corato, near Bari, Italy, in this handout picture released by Italian Firefighters July 12, 2016.
Red Cross workers had earlier asked for distinguishing features and other details to help identify the most badly injured, from tattoos to scars and clothing.
A slight bend in the track reduced visibility, leaving the trains – which were travelling at more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) an hour – with fewer than 50 metres in which to brake to a stop, when they needed 250 metres, the Corriere della Sera said.
He said investigators had acquired all the telephone communications between the two stations and that the investigation would point to who made a mistake.
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Human error now is the main line of inquiry. An estimated 2,700km of Italy’s rail infrastructure remains single track. “If the control and warning systems had been installed, none of this would have happened”, it said. A pot of 150 million euros ($166 million) allocated by the European Regional Development Fund in the 2007-2013 budget to add second tracks was only partially used, La Stampa daily said.
