Return to Washington Examiner Homepage
May 23, 2013 | 09:58 PM
news
Washington D.C. weather
News: World

Train and truck collide in southeast Italy, 1 dead

September 24, 2012 | Modified: September 24, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Leave a comment
Photo -   The wreckage of a truck lies on the tracks in Cisternino, southern Italy, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. Italian state railway officials say a high-speed train slammed into the truck at a railroad crossing, killing the train's engineer and injuring four passengers. A railway spokesman, Marco Mancini, says the truck got stuck on the tracks and that the driver then abandoned the vehicle, making it to safety just before the Frecciargento (Silverarrow) train from Rome ran into it. (AP Photo/Max Frigione)
The wreckage of a truck lies on the tracks in Cisternino, southern Italy, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012. Italian state railway officials say a high-speed train slammed into the truck at a railroad crossing, killing the train's engineer and injuring four passengers. A railway spokesman, Marco Mancini, says the truck got stuck on the tracks and that the driver then abandoned the vehicle, making it to safety just before the Frecciargento (Silverarrow) train from Rome ran into it. (AP Photo/Max Frigione)

ROME (AP) — A high-speed Italian train slammed into a truck at a railroad crossing Monday in southeast Italy, killing the train's engineer and injuring 25 passengers, railway officials said.

The truck got stuck on the tracks after ignoring the bars that were being lowered to indicate that a train was coming, railway spokesman Marco Mancini said. The truck driver abandoned the vehicle, making it to safety just before the Silverarrow train from Rome to Lecce ran into it, he said.

The collision knocked the train off the tracks that cross a local highway near Cisternino in Italy's Puglia region.

A railway statement said 10 passengers were hospitalized for injuries and 15 other passengers were treated for minor injuries such as bruises.

Brindisi Prosecutor Marco Dinapoli told reporters near the crash site that investigators had determined that the alarm system warning of a train's approach had worked fine. He said it appeared the driver of the tractor-trailer "committed a grave, imprudent act," according the Italian news agency ANSA.

The report said the truck driver, a 26-year-old Romanian man, was arrested and jailed for suspected manslaughter.