Train Jumps Track in Italy; 8 Die, 29 Hurt
PIACENZA, Italy — An express train rounding a curve in northern Italy shot off the tracks Sunday, killing eight people and injuring at least 29.
The train was half an hour into its trip from Milan to Rome when it left the tracks about 200 yards before a station in Piacenza, police said.
The train wasn’t scheduled to stop at the station.
The first passenger car--where a number of the fatalities occurred--plowed into an electrical pylon, said Federico Manzella, a spokesman for the state railway.
Former President Francesco Cossiga was aboard the train but not injured.
Authorities investigating the accident speculated that it could have been caused by an obstacle on the track or excessive speed.
Manzella said investigators had found a box containing technical data, including the train’s speed. The normal rate for the curve is about 70 mph, he said.
“It seemed like the train was skiing, like in a slalom between poles,†Italy’s ANSA news agency quoted passenger Omar Bayram, 41, a Turkish businessman, as saying.
“All of a sudden I found myself with the world upside down,†Bayram said.
Among the dead were two train engineers, three train police officers, a restaurant car worker and two passengers, ANSA reported.
Nicknamed the “Botticelli,†the train is one of Italy’s most modern. It is capable of reaching speeds of 156 mph on the Milan-Rome run.
It makes the about 375-mile trip in four hours and 25 minutes, stopping in the cities of Bologna and Florence.
Officials said the number of victims could have been much higher--the train was carrying only about 150 passengers but has a capacity of 900.
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