By Silvia Ognibene
VIAREGGIO, Italy (Reuters) - At least 12 people were killed and 50 injured overnight in Italy when a freight train hauling liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded as it passed their homes, officials said on Tuesday.
About 1,000 people were evacuated following the blast just before midnight on Monday in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio, about 350 km (220 miles) north of Rome.
Thirty-seven people were injured, seriously or very seriously, rescue workers said, including a 2-year-old who was badly burnt and was being transferred to a hospital in Florence.
It was Italy's most deadly rail accident since 17 people were killed in January 2005, when a passenger train collided with a freight train near the northern city of Bologna.
"The emergency and danger are not over. The area has been sealed-off and search and rescue operations are ongoing," said Guido Bertolasso, head of Italy's civil protection agency.
Rescue workers were trying to determine the whereabouts of some 30 people, registered living in buildings damaged or destroyed by the accident.
Bertolasso pegged the number of dead at 12, compared to an estimate of 15 dead by rescue workers.
Firefighters battled overnight to contain blazes started by the explosion and, as a precaution, were siphoning off liquefied petroleum gas from other, unexploded tanks in the wrecked train.
GATX Rail Europe, a unit of the U.S.-based GATX Corp, which owns the rail cars -- each one made of a gas tank attached to a wagon -- told Reuters it did not know the cause of the explosion and was gathering information from news reports.
Chief Financial Officer Werner Mitteregger said the tanks being transported on the Italian railways were new.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called the episode "serious and upsetting" and was expected to visit the area later on Tuesday.
Television showed the fire spreading down city streets, setting cars and nearby buildings alight. Rescue workers set up along the roadside to provide first aid to burn victims.
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, who was among the dead, ANSA news agency reported.
Rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble of damaged buildings. ANSA said two nearby buildings collapsed.
State railways said the accident occurred when one carriage derailed, pulling another four with it. Liquefied petroleum gas escaped from a tank on one of the carriages and caught fire.
(For a map locating Viareggio go to
http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/RNGS/JUN/TRAIN.jpg)
(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones and Phil Stewart; Writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Louise Ireland)
