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Five railway workers have been killed after being hit by a train while repairing a section of track.
The incident happened at Brandizzo railway station in Italy’s northern Piedmont region just after midnight on Thursday.
The five victims have been named by local media and include a 22-year-old man.
The workers were carrying out overnight track maintenance when the train hit them while believed to be travelling at around 100mph (160kmph).
Brandizzo mayor Paolo Bodoni said it had been indicated the train’s crew were unaware there were workers on the tracks.
He told Italian newspaper La Stampa: ‘The first information reaching me refers to a scarcity of communication between the (work) team and who should have signalled the passage of the train, but we need to see what really happened.
‘There is also the question of the train’s speed, which needs to be determined.’
Two other workers, who managed to avoid being hit, were taken to hospital and treated for shock.
The emergency services rushed to the scene (Picture: EPA)
Five workers were killed in the incident, and two were injured (Picture: EPA)
The train could have been travelling at up to 100mph (Picture: EPA)
Laura, a resident of the town who lives close to the railway, said they heard ‘a roar, nothing else’ and that the train ‘didn’t whistle’ ahead of the crash.
Translated from Italian, she added: ‘My husband asked me if it was normal. At first I even thought the underpass had collapsed.
‘We didn’t go out into the garden, but we saw the flashing lights around 1am.
‘Not having heard the sirens we didn’t think of a tragedy like this.’
The five victims, who all reportedly worked for Sigifer in Borgo Vercelli, have been named as: Kevin Laganà, 22, from Vercelli; Michael Zanera, 34, from Vercelli; Giuseppe Sorvillo, 43, from Brandizzo; Giuseppe Lombardo, 53, from Vercelli; and Giuseppe Aversa, 49, from Borgo d’Ale.
There has been a major emergency services presence at the site of the crash all day, and the railway line remained suspended throughout the morning while investigations took place.
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