Two dead and 18 injured after train ploughs into truck in Italy horror crash

Two people died and 18 more were injured after a train ploughed into a big-rig truck that stopped on the tracks in northern Italy, authorities said.

Shocking images show a derailed carriage of the train turned over on the trackside as emergency services battle to reach those injured in the horror crash.

Italian news agency ANSA said the first fatality was the engineer of the train, which smashed into the truck at Caluso, north of Turin, late on Wednesday night.

One of two critically injured died after being flown to hospital by helicopter, the news agency reported.

The truck smashed through the barriers at a crossing and ended up on the tracks, officials said.

One of the less seriously injured was a crew member, while the others were passengers.

The ambulance team at the scene said a total of 18 people were injured, most of them not critically.

The truck driver escaped injury, ANSA said.

The Rfi regional railroad said the railway barrier had lowered properly before the train's approach but for reasons unknown the truck smashed through the barrier.

The crash derailed three train cars.

ANSA quoted a young woman who broke her leg in the crash as saying she felt as if she was being pushed from behind, then fell.

The passenger, who was not identified in the report, said she feared she would die.

Rescuers were searching the wreckage looking for any trapped passengers.