Viareggio Train Station Italy: Collision, Gas Explosion, Kills 16

The death toll from a train explosion in Tuscany rose to 22 Friday after three injured people died in hospital, Italian officials said.

The Civil Protection said about a dozen of the injured remained in serious condition.

A train carrying liquefied gas derailed around midnight Monday in the seaside town of Viareggio, setting off a massive explosion that consumed nearby homes. Most of the victims were severely burned and only about half of the dead have been identified.

At least 16 people died, 3 of them children, and more than 34 were reported injured after a freight train carrying liquid petroleum derailed and exploded late Monday in a quiet seaside town on the Tuscan coast.

The blast, which happened in the seaside resort of Viareggio in Tuscany, killed at least 15 people, some of them incinerated in their homes.

Nearly 40 people were injured, many of them seriously burnt, as flames engulfed houses and the force of the explosion caused at least two buildings to collapse into rubble.

One of the buildings was thought to have had 18 people inside, prompting fears that the death toll would rise.

"We saw a ball of fire rising up to the sky," said Gianfranco Bini, who lives in a building overlooking the station. "We heard three big rumbles, like bombs. It looked like war had broken out."

Tragedy in the night in Viareggio, where a train carrying gas is derailed and caught fire. According to unconfirmed items, there would be deaths and injuries. The accident happened around midnight and a half.  The first, fragmentary news reports that the train had come close to the station of Viareggio, where the derailment took place. Two wagons containing gas is then exploded. Some people were burned dead, others are in serious burns.

Two trucks containing gas exploded around midnight near the station of Viareggio. Yet few and fragmentary reports.

The explosion triggered a huge fire that has invaded the adjacent road, causing two deaths.  One of the victims was a woman, was literally charred.  There are also many wounded. Destroyed all the windows in the area in front of the station.

According to a first hypothesis, it seems that a convoy that arrived in the vicinity of the station, and derailed, causing the explosion of wagons.