Train crash
June 30, 2009
Hundreds of firefighters from across the region were rushed to the area to dig through the rubble of collapsed and burning homes.
A spokesman for the firefighters said the death toll stood at 13 by Tuesday morning but warned that the number of victims might rise as the rescue teams searched through the rubble.
About a thousand people were evacuated just after the blast around midnight shocked people from their beds near the train station in the Tuscan seaside town about 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Rome.
State railways said the accident occurred when one carriage derailed, pulling another four with it. Liquefied petroleum gas then leaked from a tank on one of the carriages and caught fire.
The search was being made more difficult by the threat that the other gas tankers could explode as well.
Officials said they have yet to determine the cause of the accident.
ai/AP/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Trinity Hartman