landslide derails train, trees kept train from falling into river

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/04/201041210231888995.html


Landslide derails train in Italy


A landslide has hit and derailed a passenger train in northern Italy, killing at least nine people and injuring 25, emergency services have said.

-snip-

"There are nine confirmed victims, while 28 people have been injured, seven of them seriously," Luis Durnwalder, governor of the German-speaking Bolzano-Bozen province, told Reuters.

Local media reported the front car of the train hit two large trees after the landslide struck, which stopped it from falling into a river below.

The carriage was left hanging precariously over the river and firefighters used cables to prevent it from slipping further down the mountainside, the ANSA news agency said.

-snip-

Thomas Widmann, a transport adviser to the local provincial government, told Sky Italia television that the landslide appeared to have been caused by
a burst irrigation pipe.

-snip-
------------------------------


talk about bad and good luck!

:spank: :D