Five railway workers in northern Italy were killed when they were hit by a train while carrying out overnight maintenance work.
Paolo Bodoni, the mayor of Brandizzo, told the AGI news agency that an emergency worker had described to him a “chilling scene, with human remains across 300 metres”.
He said it was “a huge tragedy” and an investigation was under way.
Police said the train, which was transporting wagons on the Milan-Turin line and was not in commercial service, was travelling at 160km/h (99mph) when, shortly before midnight, it hit the team replacing parts of the track near Brandizzo, on the outskirts of Turin, the AGI and Ansa news agencies reported.
Two colleagues working nearby managed to escape, including the foreman. The train driver was in shock but otherwise unharmed, Ansa reported.
A woman from Brandizzo told Corriere della Sera newspaper: “We were at the bar right in front of the station when we heard a loud noise, like an accident, but with something dragging something else behind it.” She said her boyfriend rushed to see what had happened and found a horrifying scene. “Now he’s in shock,” she said.
RFI, which manages Italy’s rail network, confirmed the five deaths and extended its condolences to the families.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said she was in regular contact with the regional governor “in the hope of shedding full light on the incident as soon as possible”.
The leader of CISL, Italy’s second largest trades union confederation, called the accident “an outrage to all Italian workers”. Luigi Sbarra said on social media: “It leaves us dismayed. Five workers are dead, five families – to whom we send our condolences – have been destroyed by the lack of safety measures.”
A cousin of the youngest victim told La Repubblica: “I’m angry. I don’t know who was wrong but five people run over are not an accident. It is clear that some mistake was made.”
Stefano Lo Russo, the mayor of Turin, said: “Five young men who were doing their job have lost their lives in a truly inexplicable way.”
Bodoni, the Brandizzo mayor, told Corriere della Sera: “The rescuers told me they witnessed a chilling scene, with human remains scattered over a distance of 300 metres. It is not to be excluded that there may have been a communication error between the team on site and those who were supposed to coordinate the work on the tracks. In any case, we will have to await the outcome of the investigations.”
He added: “I don’t know if 160km/h is the right speed for a train passing through a station. It is something I wonder about as a citizen.”
