At least one person has been killed and 39 others are reported to have been injured some seriously, after a tram derailed in the northern Italian city of Milan.
The crowded tram was travelling on the line 9 route along Milan’s Viale Vittorio Veneto at about 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) when it left the track and crashed into a building.
The person who died is thought to have been a pedestrian hit by the tram, while most of the injured were passengers. Numerous ambulances are at the scene and there are reports of people trapped in the wreckage.
Passengers described hearing a noise underneath the tram, after which it veered off its track, gathered speed and went into the side of a building.
Reuters
“I thought it was an earthquake. I was sitting down and I fell on the floor, along with the other passengers,” one man told Ansa news agency. “It was terrible.”
As it left the track, the tram apparently first hit a traffic light before smashing the window of a restaurant. A delivery rider waiting at the traffic light and a young man on a pavement narrowly escaped injury, La Repubblica website reported.
“I got on at the first stop, [Piazza della] Repubblica,” one female passenger told Corriere della Sera. “I was standing next to the driver, and they all crashed into me.”
“I just heard an enormous bang,” said 27-year-old Anna, who was in an office nearby, quoted by AFP. “I saw a bit of the tram had gone into a shop.”
Civil protection teams have set up a tent at the scene to help the injured.
It is not clear what caused the derailment, although media reports suggested the tram had taken a sharp corner too quickly, as it turned out of Viale Vittorio Veneto.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala and other city officials have arrived at the scene of the crash.
Transport company ATM said in a statement it was “deeply shaken” by the incident, and said its thoughts were with the victims and their families.
The incident comes at a time when the city is packed with international visitors, celebrities and journalists for Milan Fashion Week.
The three-car tram is one of a new bidirectional type with drivers’ cabs at either end, introduced in the city only a few weeks ago, according to Corriere della Sera.
Reuters
