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Global

13 die as Italy gas train derails and explodes


    ROME (Reuters) - At least 13 people were killed and 36 injured overnight when a train hauling liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded as it passed their homes in northern Italy, officials said Tuesday.

    About a thousand people were evacuated just after the blast around midnight Monday shook people from their beds near the train station in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio, about 350 km north of Rome.

    Firefighters battled overnight to contain blazes started by the blast. Television showed the fire spreading down city streets, setting cars and nearby buildings alight.

    At least two children were among the dead, officials said.

    "Let me see him! Let me see him!," screamed one man trying to see his grandson, ANSA news agency reported

    ANSA said two nearby buildings collapsed.

    State railways said the accident occurred when one carriage derailed, pulling another 4 with it. Liquefied petroleum gas escaped from a tank on one of the carriages and caught fire.

    (Reporting by Gavin Jones and Phil Stewart; writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Matthew Jones)