Train explosion kills ten in Italy

[John Ashworth]

Train explosion kills ten in Italy

* Helen Pidd
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 June 2009 02.32 BST


An explosion in northern Italy has killed at least ten people and injured up to 50 after a freight train carrying gas tanks derailed and the blast hit surrounding houses.

The 14-car train carrying liquefied gas was traveling from the northern city of La Spezia to Pisa. It derailed shortly before midnight local time, just outside a station in the seaside town of Viareggio in northern Tuscany, and two cars filled with gas exploded, officials said.

The blast and resulting fire engulfed several homes collapsing two buildings, according to the ANSA news agency.

Seven people, including a child, were killed at home by the collapses or the fire, said Raffaele Gargiulo, a police spokesman in the nearby city of Lucca, which is in charge of the smaller town of Viareggio.

Two drivers who were on the road alongside the tracks when the train derailed were killed. Another victim, a young man, died in the hospital, Gargiulo said.

"The condition of the bodies is such that it will be very difficult to identify them," he said.

Lucca's top government official, Prefect Carmelo Aronica, told Italy's RAI state TV that at least 50 people were injured, 35 of whom were hospitalised with severe burns.

Firefighters chief Antonio Gambardell said that the blaze was being contained but there was still the risk that the other gas tanks would explode.

Hazardous materials teams specialised in dealing with nuclear, biological and chemical threats were being brought in to help.

Some 300 firefighters were battling flames while digging through the rubble of collapsed or burnt homes looking for casualties, Gambardella said, adding that there could be more victims.

Mobile phone footage posted on the internet shortly afterwards showed tall flames and large smoke clouds billowing out from what appeared to be a densely populated area.