2 killed in Italian train-truck crash

The twisted wreckage of the train that ploughed into a truck outside Caluso near Turin, Italy, late on Wednesday. Two people died and 20 were hurt.
The twisted wreckage of the train that ploughed into a truck outside Caluso near Turin, Italy, late on Wednesday. Two people died and 20 were hurt. PHOTO: REUTERS

ROME • Two people were killed and 20 injured after a train crashed into a rig truck near the northern Italian city of Turin and derailed, Italian media said yesterday.

The incident occurred late on Wednesday when the train hit a large truck that had stopped on a level crossing near the town of Caluso, causing three of five carriages to come off the rails.

"At 11.20pm, the regional train 10027 Turin-Ivrea hit a heavy goods vehicle that had stopped on a functioning level crossing after crashing through the barriers," RFI, which manages Italy's rail network, said in a statement.

Local police said there were between 40 and 50 people on the train, the last one from Turin to the suburb of Ivrea that day. Media reports said four of the injured were in serious condition. "According to early information, the driver of the train was killed and many other passengers have been injured," the statement added.

The AGI news agency said the second victim was taken to a Turin hospital by helicopter with severe injuries. He did not survive. At the time of the accident, he was in a van accompanying the heavy goods vehicle, other media reported.

The tragedy follows another accident in April last year in the north, which killed two people and resulted in the temporary closure of the main railway line between Italy and Austria.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 25, 2018, with the headline 2 killed in Italian train-truck crash. Subscribe