Relatives of victims of one of Italy’s worst rail accidents gathered to identify their dead Wednesday, as rescue workers at the scene of the head-on collision between two trains dismantled the wreckage in search of missing bodies.
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Twenty people died and dozens were injured when two passenger trains collided head-on in southern Italy on Tuesday, a regional official told reporters, Reuters reports.
“Unfortunately the death toll has risen to 20”, said Giuseppe Corrado, deputy head of the local province.
“Surely one of the two trains shouldn’t have been there”, said railway police Cmdr. Giancarlo Conticchio. “And surely there was an error”.
Investigators said it was possible that the collision was caused by human error.
Nevertheless, among the trains’ black boxes continues to be recovered at the scene. The two trains, each with four cars, collided head-on in an olive grove on flat terrain between the towns of Andria and Corato.
The crash happened at around 11.30 a.m. on a fiercely hot summer’s day.
One elderly couple described their ordeal to local television Telesveva. I dug my way out under the metal pieces and was able to save my husband.
A six-year-old child was the first passenger rescued by firefighters who pulled him out of the debris. “When I got up, I saw hellish scenes around me”. How sad. There was nothing I could do. “I do not know anything about her”, she said.
Massimo Mazzilli, local mayor from the town of Corato, in Puglia, southern Italy, said: “It is a disaster, as if a plane crashed”.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi promised a full inquiry to find out who was responsible.
Prosecutors launched a multiple manslaughter investigation. “The crash was certainly violent”.
“I believe there are many dead”, said Riccardo Zingaro, captain of the Andria fire brigade. Another survivor said he was thrown to the floor by the impact.
A field hospital was set up in the nearby countryside to treat the injured, who are also being transported to hospitals.
Graziano Delrio told the Italian Parliament the stretch of track between the cities of Andria and Corato where the crash occurred Tuesday did not have an automatic alert or brake system, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Renzi said the train crash “is a moment of tears” and pledged not to stop investigating until a cause was determined.
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Pope Francis has sent a telegram to the archbishop of Bari, Monsignor Francnesco Cacucci, saying that he feels the pain so many families have to bear, that he is mourning those lost and praying for the recovery of the wounded. “This line is taken mainly by youth, students at Bari University, it makes a connection between the small towns and the university”, journalist Lucia Oliveri told RAI.
