Two train drivers killed in Italy high-speed rail crash

Two rail workers are killed and about 30 people injured on Thursday when a high-speed train derailed before dawn near Milan in northern Italy, authorities say.

According to Press TV, the crash occurred just after 5:30 a.m. (4:30 GMT) near the town of Lodi, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Milan.

"It was a serious accident that had a tragic end with the death of two rail workers" aboard the train, Lodi Prefect Marcello Cardona told reporters, who added that an investigation was underway.

Cardona said none of the injuries suffered were life-threatening and all casualties had been taken to hospital. The Lombardy region's health department put the number of injured at 31.

"It could have been a lot worse," Cardona said, adding that there were only 33 people on board the train. Only one person was in the first car and two people in the second when the accident occurred, he said.

The interior minister has been informed and the prosecutor was already at the scene of the accident, the cause of which was unknown, he said.

Two helicopters, hundreds of firemen, police and other authorities descended on the open farmland area outside of Lodi.

"We are greatly saddened by the two deaths, the two rail workers, and we express our solidarity with the families," said Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

"We can't yet say anything" about the cause of the crash, he told journalists in Rome.

SS