THE ELEGANT Tuscan seaside resort of Viareggio could have been mistaken for downtown Baghdad yesterday following a horrific goods train accident which claimed the lives of at least 17 people.
The final death toll may be higher. Rescue workers were last night searching through the rubble of five destroyed buildings for missing people, while as many as 15 of the 37 injured remained critical.
A 14-carriage goods train transporting liquified petroleum gas, a product often used in domestic heating systems, was at the heart of yesterday’s tragedy.
As the convoy made its way through Viareggio station shortly before midnight on Monday, the front four tankers derailed, with the first tanker breaking open as it overturned.
The liquid gas then appears to have run across the train tracks and into five houses which flanked the railway line close to the station. Once inside the houses, the gas exploded.
Not only were people inside the houses burned to death but at least one bystander was killed when he was hit by a piece of exploding metal.
Another group of people, who were eating outside on the balmy summer evening at a garden table on the footpath, were engulfed by the flames and badly burned.
Cars were also set on fire by the explosion, which created an orange glow in the sky visible up to 50km (30 miles) away.
Many Viareggio residents took to the streets on Monday night, convinced that the town had been struck by a bomb.
Mauro Moretti, managing director of Ferrovie Dello Stato, the Italian railways authority, said yesterday the incident had been triggered when an axle on the first goods carriage broke, prompting it to jump the tracks, overturn and empty its cargo in the direction of the nearby houses.
Three other tanker carriages were also derailed and overturned, but fortunately they did not shed their loads.
Mr Moretti said the train was not travelling too fast, but rather at the regulation speed of 90km/h (56mph).
Last night’s rescue effort was a two-part operation. While firemen and Protezione Civile (civil protection) workers sifted through the rubble of the destroyed houses in search of survivors, three teams of specialists were entrusted with the dangerous task of emptying the 13 full tankers.
Guido Bertolosa, head of the Protezione Civile forces and the man who led the rescue efforts in the wake of the L’Aquila earthquake in April, said yesterday it would take several days for Viareggio to return to normal, given that the entire area around the station would remain sealed off until the cargo was removed.
While the number of people made homeless by yesterday’s tragedy is relatively small, an estimated 1,000 residents of the station zone were unable to return to their homes last night. Instead, they had to stay with friends or move into some of the many hotels located in the resort town.
Inevitably, the incident has given way to polemics about railway safety.
Senior trade union figure Guglielmo Epifani of the CIGL confederated union said yesterday: “The first indications would seem to confirm all the alarms launched by the unions in recent months; in particular, the Ferrovie are using rolling stock that is too old.”
The public prosecutor’s office of nearby Lucca confirmed yesterday that it had opened an investigation into the incident.
However, establishing legal responsibility may be difficult since the convoy was pulled by an Italian railways engine, while the tanker which derailed bears a Polish railway number plate, but is registered to a Vienna-based firm, Gatx.