Five workers were killed and two others were hurt after a train struck them on railroad tracks in the Turin region of northern Italy, according to local media.
According to the Italian ANSA news agency, the incident happened on Wednesday at around midnight (22:00 GMT) in the municipality of Brandizzo, which is a part of the metropolitan region of Turin.
The guys were reportedly working for a company that was replacing train line segments when they were struck by a locomotive pulling empty carriages from Alessandria in the direction of Turin. The locomotive connected the two major northern towns of Turin and Milan.
According to Italian media outlets such as ANSA and the daily Corriere della Sera, the event occurred as the train was traveling at a speed of about 160 kph (just under 100 mph).
Before the train came to a stop, the workers are alleged to have been pulled for a distance. Two of their coworkers who were employed nearby were able to flee.
The mayor of Brandizzo, Paolo Bodoni, told the AGI news service that he had been notified by an emergency worker about a “chilling scene, with human remains across 300 meters.”
It’s a terrible tragedy, he declared.
“It cannot be excluded that there could have been a communication error,” he stated, noting that an investigation was under progress.
According to ANSA, the train driver was in shock but otherwise unharmed.
Following the event, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI), Italy’s infrastructure manager for the train network, expressed “deep sorrow” and conveyed condolences to the families of the workers who died, according to media reports.