VIAREGGIO, Italy - At least 14 people were killed and dozens injured overnight in Italy when a freight train hauling liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded as it passed their homes, officials said Tuesday.
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About 1,000 people were evacuated following the blast just before midnight Monday in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio, about 350 km (220 miles) north of Rome.
More than 30 people were seriously injured, with many of them in critical condition with very severe burns. Three children were among the dead.
"We were going to bed when my daughter smelled gas and we heard the blasts," said Roberta Marcelli. "We looked out from the terrace and we saw windows exploding, everything was exploding."
"It was an apocalypse. All we could smell was gas and things burning and all we could see was flames," one survivor told Italian television.
PEOPLE STILL MISSING
A body of a woman was found Tuesday evening, bringing the death toll to 14.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi told a news conference that four people were still missing in the rubble of a building destroyed by the blast, adding that the toll could rise.
Many residents booed Berlusconi as he visited the scene.
Unions representing railway workers called a one-hour halt in train traffic Wednesday to mourn the dead and draw attention to what they say are insufficient safety standards in the sector.
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