At least 20 killed in Italy train collision
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Stephanie Halasz, Jason Hanna and Livia Borghese, CNN
(CNN) — [Breaking news update, published at 8:11 a.m.]
At least 20 people were killed in Tuesday morning’s head-on train collision in southern Italy, a provincial official, Giuseppe Corrado, said on Italian television.
The hospital in Andria is asking for blood donations for the injured through a local news website.
The collision happened on a single track, 7 kilometers (more than 4 miles) outside Andria.
[Original story, published at 7:12 a.m.
Two trains collided head-on in a rural area of southeastern Italy Tuesday morning, killing at least 10 people, a firefighter told CNN.
The crash happened at about 11:05 a.m. in the Puglia region, said Maria Rondenodnone, a volunteer firefighter.
Others were injured in the crash between the towns of Andria and Corato, about 15 kilometers south of the Adriatic Sea, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
A child was among those taken from the crash, and was transported to a hospital by helicopter, ANSA reported.
An aerial picture from the scene, distributed by Italian firefighters, showed the smashed remains of train cars and a large area of scattered, twisted metal at the impact site.
Both trains were on the same track, apparently headed toward each other.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called for an investigation into the collision.
“There will be a full inquiry to find out who is responsible for this crash, and what has happened,” Renzi told reporters Tuesday in Milan.
The rescue and recovery effort is ongoing, he added.
The state-run rail company FS Group offered condolences and said both trains were operated by the private company Ferrotramviaria SpA, which runs commuter rail services in the area.
“The employees of the Italian FS Group are close to the victims’ families, the wounded and colleagues at Ferrotramviaria,” the FS Group said.
Details on what led to the crash weren’t immediately available.
The wreck happened in a relatively remote area. Local authorities took to social media to ask for any doctors and medics in the area to go to the crash site to help the injured.
“It’s not an area that’s easily accessible. The closest highway is miles away,” CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau said.