'Eleven dead' as landslide hits Italian train

Up to eleven people were killed and 25 injured when a landslide hit a train in Italy today.

The local service derailed after it hit a landslide, leaving one carriage hanging dangerously over a river.

Rescuers described the scene in Tarres near Merano in northern Italy as "horrific" as they fought to pull the dead and injured passengers free.

Firemen were trying to secure the front of the two coaches to stop it falling into the river Adige. It was being kept upright by two trees which had been dragged down by the landslide.

Florian Schrofenneger, a local railway spokesman in the area, which is close to the Austrian border, said: "A mechanical failure has been ruled out and it looks as if it hit a landslide. The train was very busy at the time as it was a local commuter service."