Commuter train crash near Milan leaves 3 dead, 110 injured

Picture: Reuters

Picture: Reuters

Published Jan 25, 2018

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Rome - Three people died and about 110 were hurt, including 10

with life-threatening injuries, in a commuter train crash near Milan,

a regional government spokeswoman said Thursday.

The six-carriage Trenord train left Cremona, a city about 90

kilometres south-east of Milan, at about 5:30 am (0430 GMT) and

derailed at around 7 am near the suburban municipality of Pioltello.

"It was commuter hour, the train was full," Chiara Ambrosio, the

deputy police chief of Milan, told broadcaster SkyTG24.

It took about three hours to extract survivors and victims from the

mangled carriages, according to the ANSA news agency. On TV footage,

helicopters could be seen taking the injured to nearby hospitals.

Footage also showed that only the central carriages derailed,

suggesting that the accident may have been caused by a malfunctioning

railway switch.

"Everything was going well, suddenly the train started shaking, then

we heard a bang and the carriages derailed," a survivor, who did not

give his name, told ANSA.

Prosecutors rushed to the scene alongside firemen and police,

questioned the train driver and opened an investigation into the

accident.

Rail traffic on the eastbound line out of Milan was suspended

following the accident, Italian rail-track company Rete Ferroviaria

Italiana said.

The last deadly railway accident in Italy took place in July 2016,

when 23 people were killed in a double train collision between Corato

and Andria, near the south-eastern city of Bari.

dpa

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