BOLOGNINA DI CREVALCORE, Italy - A passenger train and a freight train collided head-on in heavy fog in northern Italy on Friday, killing at least 13 people, injuring dozens and crushing several cars into a wreck of buckled metal.
The force of the crash, on a line between Bologna and Verona, lifted one train car vertically into the air until it was nearly perpendicular to the tracks. Rescue workers struggled to keep their balance as they scaled the car with ladders. Another passenger car was ripped nearly in half.
"From the car in front of ours, which was completely destroyed, we heard people screaming for help," passenger Steve Djaumen from Cameroon told the Italian news agency ANSA. Djaumen said he and others were able to push open a door and climb out.
Near the wreckage, bodies were lined up in a misty, muddy field in white body bags.
Officials originally put the death toll at 14, then lowered it, saying confusion arose because of difficulty identifying bodies. Several seriously injured people were taken to nearby hospitals, and about 50 people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, ANSA said.
Those killed included three train drivers and one other staff member, Italy's Trenitalia rail network said.
The trains collided at 12:50 p.m. in a rural area of Bolognina di Crevalcore, 25 miles north of Bologna.
One passenger said that before impact, the train seemed to be traveling at normal speed and he did not feel the brakes kick in.
Officials planned to work into the night, cutting pieces from the wreckage under floodlights and lifting them away with a crane.
The Civil Defense department said around 100 people were on board the passenger train, which was a local train traveling south from Verona to Bologna. The freighter was headed north from Rome to San Zeno Falzano.