MILAN: At least three people have been killed and over a hundred injured as a commuter train derailed near Milan in northern Italy at the start of the workday, Carabinieri police said.
The Trenord derailed at the Pioltello Limito station on the outskirts of the city, halting train traffic into and out of Italy’s financial capital for hours. At least two main cars peeled off the rails but were still standing, albeit at an angle. Rescue crews gingerly climbed through them helping passengers escape.
The train was heading from Cremona into Milan’s Garibaldi station.
Rescue officials said at least three people died and several were seriously injured in a railway accident near Italy’s northern city of Milan when a regional train derailed on Thursday morning.
“There are between three and five dead in the accident from what we know at the moment,” a fire official told the news agency Reuters.
Previously, Carabinieri police confirmed at least two people were killed, 10 were seriously injured and dozens more slightly injured. It was the latest incident involving Italy’s ageing rail system, the Associated Press reported.
Over 100 sustained light injuries, according to regional emergency official Cristina Corbetta.
Helicopters were deployed to the scene near the Pioltello Limito station, outside Milan. Even hours after the accident, several survivors reportedly remained trapped.
Rescue teams were pulling people out of the wrecked carriages, Milan’s deputy police chief Chiara Ambrosio told broadcaster SkyTG24.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
The commuter train was heading from the city of Cremona towards Milan. The accident caused delays along the railways connecting Milano and Venice, local media reports.
In 2016, 23 people were killed when two trains collided on a single track in an olive grove in Puglia, southeastern Italy.
In 2009, 32 people were killed when a freight train carrying liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded in Viareggio, in central Italy’s Tuscany region.