2 dead, many injured, in train derailment near Milan, Italy

Associated Press

MILAN – A commuter train derailed Thursday in northern Italy, killing at least two people, seriously injuring 10 and trapping others heading into the city of Milan at the start of the work day, carabinieri police said.

The Trenord train derailed near 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 the crushed sides of the cars trying to get to trapped passengers.

Carabinieri police confirmed at least two people were killed, 10 were seriously injured and dozens more slightly injured. The train was heading from Cremona, in eastern Lombardy, into Milan’s Garibaldi station.

Trenord is the regional train company serving the Lombardy region. It is notorious among passengers for dirty, packed cars and frequent delays. On social media Thursday, it was ridiculed for tweets blaming delays into Milan on a “technical inconvenience” involving a train.

It was the latest incident involving Italy’s aging rail system. 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.