Five railway workers die in Italy after being hit by a train

Five railway workers died in northern Italy after being hit by a train while carrying out maintenance work overnight, firefighters reported Thursday.

The train, which transported empty wagons between Milan and Turinwas traveling at 160 kilometers per hour when it struck equipment replacing part of the railway near brandizzoon the outskirts of Turin, according to the first elements of the investigation.

MORE INFORMATION | Biden and Meloni are united with Ukraine, but avoid controversy with China

“Five workers died because of a train, and two others were injured”the firefighters said in a brief statement.

R.F.I.the company in charge of the Italian rail network, confirmed that five workers for a subcontractor were killed when a decommissioned train ran over them shortly before midnight.

The company said feel “deep sadness” for what happened and offered his condolences to the families of the dead workers.

Paolo Bodoni, mayor of brandizzohe told the Italian press agency AGI that an emergency service worker told him a story “Chilling scene, with human remains scattered over 300 meters”.

The event is being investigated, said the mayor, indicating that “it cannot be ruled out that there has been a communication error”.

The train conductor was shaken but unharmed, according to local press.

Firefighters arrive at the train station near which a regional train struck seven workers working on the tracks in Brandizzo, Turin, Italy, on August 31, 2023. Five of the workers died in the incident and two were injured. . (Photo: EFE/EPA/Tino Romano) (Tino Romano/)

At the moment several judicial and administrative investigations were opened, and political reactions multiplied from the government and the unions.

The chief executive, Giorgia Melonipresented his “condolences” to the families of the victims, and said he was following the investigations closely “with the hope that what happened will be clarified as soon as possible.”

His deputy prime minister in charge of Transport, Matteo Salvini, said in turn that “The prosecution and the experts are trying to determine how such a dramatic accident could have happened last night”.

For its part, the largest Italian trade union, the CGILcalled the maintenance employees of the RFI company to go on strike for four hours this Friday.

And he recalled that he has been denouncing “serious deficiencies” regarding safety when carrying out maintenance tasks on the country’s railway network.

Italy registered 776 fatal accidents at work in 2020, according to the European statistics agency Eurostat. It is the highest absolute figure in the EU.

CHECK HERE | Five dead in Italy due to storms and fires

Source: Elcomercio