Currently, there has been no reason as to why the trains collided in good weather conditions.
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Corato Mayor Massimo Mazzilli said the collision looked as deadly as a plane crash. The number of people travelling on the train when the crash took place is still not definite, say the reports.
He wrote: “It’s as disaster, as if an airplane fell. We need to determine the cause of the error”. More than 30 people living close to the tracks were killed in the subsequent fire.
The Bari-Barletta line went into service in 1965, connecting Puglia’s capital city of Bari with cities to the north and up the Adriatic coast: Bitonto, Terlizzi, Ruvo, Corato, Andria, and Barletta. The official said 22 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage, and one person died in a hospital.
Two passenger trains have crashed head-on in southern Italy today.
The two trains belong to local private rail company, Ferrotramviaria, Italy’s national rail service, Ferrovia dello Stato, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi cancelled his trip to Milan and returned to Rome, following news of the collision.
Twenty people died and dozens were injured when two passenger trains collided head-on in southern Italy on Tuesday, July 12, a regional official told reporters.
A still photo of the crash showed cars crumpled together like an accordion and forced off the tracks at sharp angles.Video images showed ambulances and rescue workers responding to the scene.
Numerous passengers on one of the trains were students heading to lessons at the University of Bari and travellers on their way to Bari worldwide airport.
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“It was an enormous accident, a very violent crash”, said Transport Minister Graziano Delrio, who arrived on at the scene along with two ministry inspectors to aid the investigation.
