A tram derailed Friday and slammed into a building in the heart of Milan, killing one person and injuring more than two-dozen others, officials and Italian media said.
The incident, along the central Vittorio Veneto avenue, came as the Italian business capital is hosting its seasonal fashion shows and is in the interim between hosting the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.
The No. 9 tram runs through the heart of Italy’s financial capital. It was supposed to have continued straight along Vittorio Veneto and was going at a high speed. But it suddenly swerved at a switch track that is used by another tram line and went off its usual course, according to video of the crash broadcast by Sky TG24.
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The video shows the tram nearly flipping onto its side as it takes the curve before slamming to a stop.
The welfare assessor for Lombardy, Guido Bertolaso, said one person was killed and one of the injured was in grave condition, LaPresse news agency said. Dozens of ambulances, fire trucks and police cars responded to the crash, with crews escorting passengers in thermal blankets away from the scene.
ATM, the Milan public transport company, said one person had been killed. In a statement carried by LaPresse it said it was cooperating with prosecutors “to precisely establish the cause and dynamic of the incident.”