Landslide Sweeps Commuter Train Into Gorge

A COMMUTER TRAIN CARRYING 39 PASSENGERS IN ITALY was struck by a landslide as it passed through a mountain gorge Monday morning.

Alto Adige

The accident took place at 9 am local time near the town of Merano in Balzano Province close to the Austrian border.  As the 3-car train was traveling on the Castelbello to Laces line, it was following a river gorge when the mountainside gave way and, tearing through a retaining wall, it hit the train knocking the lead car off the tracks and filling it with mud and rocks.  (Note: some reports state that the slide occurred prior to the train’s arrival and it traveled into the mud pile.)

Note the litter has wheels designed to travel
on the rails.  The victims were rolled down
the line to a location where the ambulances
were staged.  (Alto Adige)

It was a stand of trees that saved the train from being swept down the hill into the River Adige below.  The lead car was dangling over the edge of the cliff, held only by some trees, and the fire department had to rig cables to it in an attempt to make it safer to effect rescues.  The firefighters were using shovels and their hands to dig through the mud inside the cars.

La Stampa

This raw video from YouReporter gives a good view of the train on the mountainside and shows firefighters shoveling the mud from one of the cars while looking for victims:

So far there are nine reported dead and 30 people injured, 7 seriously.  Authorities say the death toll could rise as they find more victims.

A provincial government official said the landslide appeared to have been caused by an irrigation pipe that had burst a few days earlier, soaking the hillside above the track.

Alto Adige

There were 150 rescuers on the scene including 60 paramedics with 18 ambulances and 5 doctors.  The nine known fatalities have been identified:

Michaela Kuenz Oberhofer, 18;
Elisabeth Peer, 22;
Julian Hartmann, 25;
Francesco Rieger, 67;
Judith Tappeiner, 20;
Rosina Ofner, 36;
Regina Tschoell, 73;
Micaela Zosch,34;
Franz Hohenegger,73.

The railway line in the province of Bolzano, opened in 2005, is considered one of the most modern tracks in the country.

Some additiona raw video from YouReporter:

More information and photos from La Stampa HERE.