It Italy at least 45 people have been killed and a further 100 injured after a high-speed express crashed into a derailed passenger train on one of the country's busiest railway lines on Saturday (15 April). The packed Venice-Rome Express hit the north-bound Lecce to Milan train at 100 kilometres an hour (60 mph) in a heavy rain storm and it has been described as the worst rail disaster in Italy in more than 10 years.

SYNOPSIS: The front four coaches of the train were left rolled down a steep embankment. First indications confirmed there would be a high death toll. The locomotive was sliced in half and its two drivers were killed instantly.

Volunteers and rescue tams were quick to the scene about 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Bologna. Most victims were in the front coaches of the express which was carrying 250 first-class only passengers.

Medical teams and rescuers worked through the night under floodlights in search for survivors and to retrieve dead bodies from the wreckage.

One survivor said there were bodies everywhere. He said he sow people without arms or legs. Passengers on the express, including some American and Japanese families, were eating lunch at the time of the collision. Among the dead were the Deputy Prefect of Venice, Signor Paolo D'Elia, and the Chief Public Prosecutor of Bologna province, Signor Francesco Padoin. The line, which carries most of Italy's Trans-European trains, will be closed for at least three days.