Italy's head-on train collision leaves at least 25 dead, 50 injured

Rescuers work at the site where two passenger trains collided in the middle of an olive grove in the southern village of Corato, near Bari, Italy, July 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

One of the drivers was reported dead in the impact, said sources from the private local company named Ferrotramviaria.which runs the two trains. "One of the two trains was too far, and investigators will tell us which one," Massimo Nitti, the general manager of Ferrotramviaria, said.

Meanwhile,the local authorities appealed for blood donors to come forward urgently to help save the life of dozens of passengers hospitalized throughout the region.

"The entire region is participating in this drama with huge blood donation," Loreto Gesualdo, head of the school of medicine at the university of Bari, capital city of Puglia, said. Photographs published by local media showed dozens of students were on the queue at local hospitals to donate blood.

No immediate reason was given for the crash, which may have been triggered by a technical failure or by the error of one of the train drivers who may have not observed a stop sign, according to first speculations. Local experts said, however, that it was too early to find out the cause.

The estimated speed of the two trains was around 100 km/h, and works had been reportedly planned to add an extra line. Commuters, students and also international tourists in the current summer season use the line every day, but the number of passengers that were on the trains on Tuesday was also not immediately available.

"An investigation committee will seek clarification about this tragedy," Italian Transport and Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio told journalists after he rushed to the scene. "The collision was extremely violent," he added.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi left Milan in northern Italy, where he was about to inaugurate an exhibition, to reach the scene in the evening. President Sergio Mattarella defined the disaster as "unacceptable" and pledged to "immediately ascertain the responsibilities and possible lacks precisely."

According to consumers association Codacons, Tuesday's accident highlighted the "intolerable level of backwardness" of rail transport in less developed southern Italy. "Italy is continuing to invest in high speed rail, often leaving the railway system in the south behind," Codacons head Carlo Rienzi observed in a statement.

Over the past 15 years,four major train accidents occurred across the country and have caused a total of 56 victims, of which 32 died in 2009 when a freight train derailed in the town of Viareggio, in Tuscany region, and caused a large fire.