Train crash rescuers work through night

Rescue teams work tirelessly to save those trapped under the wreckage

 BARLETTA -- Firefighters searched through the early hours Wednesday for people feared still trapped in wreckage of two trains that slammed into each other in the region of Apulia in one of the worst disasters in Italian railway history. In all, 23 people are said to have been killed in the accident and there are at least 50 who are severely injured.

The crash occurred on Tuesday in a rural area surrounded by olive trees between the towns of Ruvo di Puglia and Corato roughly 25 miles away from Bari in a region close to the coast. The trains collided on a single track line with the crash causing debris to fly from the railway and land in the countryside. Three carriages were completely crumpled by the sheer force of the head-on collision of the trains which had been travelling at 100 kilometres per hour, flying off the railway tracks due to the impact. The Mayor of Corato, Massimo Mazzilli, likened the scene to that of a plane crash, such was the extent of the damage caused by the collision of the two trains.

Emergency rescue workers and firefighters worked tirelessly throughout the day on Tuesday in scorching temperatures and on into the night to free those who had been trapped in the wreckage. Luca Cari, fire brigade spokesman, reported that they had recovered a young boy still alive from under the wreckage, who was immediately transported to a nearby hospital. The rescue team continued to work on Wednesday as people were still feared to be trapped underneath the remains.

"There were body parts, blood, bits of people. I walked barefoot through the wreckage. I dug under it and managed to pull my husband out,” an elderly survivor reported to Telesveva.

 “I saw dead people, others who were crying for help, people who were crying. It was the most terrible scene I have seen in my life,” a police officer who was present at the scene of the crash told ANSA news agency.

The train company Ferrotramviaria is responsible for the management of the railway line and trains in question, but has so far not identified the specific cause of the collision.  An investigation has been opened, and preliminary information says that the crash occurred because of ‘human error’ as opposed to any technological reason, due to the untimed early departure of one of the two trains from a small station in the rural region.

The last derailment of this sort occurred in April 2010 in Laces which resulted in 9 deaths and 28 wounded, which was followed by another even more serious in 2009 when a freight train came off the rails in Viareggio, killing 32 people who lived close to the tracks.

There has been widespread anger and frustration towards the transport system in the region of Apulia where the trains collided, where plans to build a second line have continuously fallen through due to bureaucratic problems. An estimated 60 percent of Italian railways are single track only, and those who work at the stations reportedly rely on telephone calls to ensure that two trains do not set off at the same time. Italian newspaper Sole says the crash has exposed a fundamental problem for Italy: “outdated, manually-operated machinery and intractable bureaucracy.”

 jp-se

Entire carriages destroyed due to impact of the collision
Bodies are found under the wreckage of the crash