Gaetano Lo Porto, AFP | Rescuers work after a head-on collision between two trains, near Corato, in the southern Italian region of Puglia on July 12, 2016

At least 25 people were killed and dozens more were injured on Tuesday when two passenger trains collided at high speed in the southern Italian region of Puglia.

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Three carriages were torn apart by the violence of the collision, which occurred at around 11:30am local time as the trains travelled down the stretch of track that links the small towns of Corato and Andria.

"It looks like there was a plane crash," said the mayor of Corato, Massimo Mazzilli, shortly after the trains collided.

There was no immediate indication of what caused one of Italy's worst train disasters in recent years, but the government promised a full and swift investigation.

"Tears and grief for the victims and their families, but also a lot of anger. We demand clarity over what happened in Puglia this morning," Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Twitter. He is expected in the region later on Tuesday.

Both trains were made up of four carriages and the front carriages on each were crushed on impact. Sky Italia TV quoted sources as saying that one of the drivers had died, with no word yet about the fate of the other.

Rescue workers used ambulances and fire trucks to establish a field hospital to treat the injured in the surrounding olive groves.

"Some of the cars are completely crumpled and the rescuers are extracting people from the metal," Riccardo Zingaro, the chief of the local police in Andria, told news agency ANSA.

'Hellish scenes'

"I dug through the wreckage and managed to save my husband. But I saw people cut to pieces," said an elderly woman standing alongside her husband, whose head was swathed in bandages.

Another survivor said he was thrown to the floor by the impact. "When I got up, I saw hellish scenes around me."

Giuseppe Corrado, deputy head of the local province, appealed for blood donors to go to local hospitals.

The stretch of track is operated by a small private rail company, Ferrotramviaria. Italian media said the European Union had already earmarked funds to build a second track along the route but that the work had been delayed.

The last major rail disaster in Italy was in 2009, when a freight train derailed in the Tuscan town of Viareggio, killing 32 people.

Al momento sono sul posto, sto coordinando le operazioni dichiara il Sindaco di Corato Massimo Mazzilli. #infoComune pic.twitter.com/hEp7gNJhdM — InfoComune (@infoComune) July 12, 2016

(FRANCE 24 with AP and REUTERS)

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