by Massimiliano Nerozzi, Floriana Rullo, Simona Lorenzetti, Giusi Fasano, Alessandro Fulloni and Chronicle Editor The railway tragedy in Brandizzo, along the line that connects Turin to Chivasso. The workers were carrying out some maintenance work when they were hit by a wagon handling engine. The dynamics of the incident still need to be clarified BRANDIZZO (TURIN) — Tragic accident last night on the railway line that connects Milan to Brandizzo station from Turin. A few minutes before midnight, the engine of a regional convoy ran over some workers who were working along the embankment. The balance is very heavy: five are dead. Two other workers, who worked a short distance from the point of the investment, were unhurt (and not injured as it seemed at first). Both were rescued by paramedics and hospitalized for shock, as were the two train drivers. Around 18.30 they were all discharged from the hospital in Chivasso (Turin). They were provided with psychological support, each in a room, in order to have all the intimacy they needed, and they almost always had a family member or friend close by. Physically we didn’t find any injuries – they explain from the hospital – but, obviously, they suffered a very important emotional reaction. The Ivrea prosecutor’s office, competent for the area, has opened an investigation. Investigating for culpable train wreck and multiple manslaughter. For now, the file remains the responsibility of unknown persons. Judicial sources explain that there are many aspects to be clarified, evidently at that moment there was no interruption in the line that there should have been. It had to be ensured that the work was carried out when a train was not passing. Not only. Investigators have already seized several documents and interviewed several people, including the engineers who were driving the train. Rail traffic After more than 18 hours, around six in the afternoon on Thursday, following the authorization from the judicial authorities, the Milan-Turin railway line was reactivated in the Chivasso-Settimo Torinese section, which had been closed due to the accident . Both tracks have been reopened and traffic is gradually recovering. The train involved in the accident has been moved but remains at the disposal of the investigators. Rfi: the work had to start after the passage of the train According to what Rfi writes in its online newspaper Fs News, the work on the tracks of the train that killed 5 workers should have begun only after the passage of that train. The procedure provides for it. As for the speed of the investor train, the conditions of the line allowed it to reach a maximum speed of 160 km/h in that section, adds the company. Compliance with the current safety procedure is under investigation, explains Rfi. Mattarella in Piedmont. A minute of silence In these hours, for a series of institutional appointments scheduled for some time, the Head of State in Piedmont. In Torre Pellice, in the province of Turin, at the conference The European dream born here. A challenge to complete Mattarella joined the minute of silence observed from the room in memory of the five who died at work. It is not excluded that at the end of the conference Mattarella may go to Brandizzo. The president also said: Dying on the job is an outrage to civil society. Meloni: Shedding full light On the tragedy that also occurred Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaking of pain and sadness. To the families of the victims and their loved ones, my deepest condolences and most sincere feelings of closeness. I am in contact with the President of the Piedmont Region Cirio to follow all the updates on the case, with the hope of shed full light on what happened as soon as possible. In the meantime, all the trade unions, confederal and autonomous, announce a strike. La Polfer: the train went at 100 km per hour The five workers — Kevin Lagan, Michael Zanera, Giuseppe Sorbillo, Giuseppe Saverio Lombardo, Giuseppe Aversa (here their portraits) — were carrying out some maintenance work and were completely run over by a train in charge of moving the wagons, who was traveling at 100 km/h (and not, as appeared from the first investigations by the carabinieri and Polfer, at 160 km/h). The workers were dragged hundreds of meters. The two colleagues, who were working not far away, narrowly avoided the locomotive and saved themselves: among them also the foreman. The train consisted of the engine and eleven carriages. Sigifer, a company with 250 employees that works in Europe and South America As Rfi specified, the workers, assigned to railway maintenance, worked on behalf of an external contractor, Sigifer, a company that deals with railway maintenance founded in October 1993 on the initiative of the brothers Giuseppe and Franco Sirianni, in Borgo Vercelli. It employs 250 people and works throughout Europe, including in South America. It is a well-known reality in the area. Franco, who currently holds the position of general manager of the company, was for several years, starting from 2017, president of the Borgo Vercelli football club, Borgopal, which played in the Promozione championship. Company safety certification one month expired The occupational safety certification shown on the Sigifer website expired on July 27th. The company’s website contains the documents relating to quality certifications, respect for the environment, occupational safety and, we read, it constantly updates its certificates, a symbol of quality, excellence and safety. A first UNI ISO 45001:2018 certification is number 29442 issued by a company belonging to Cisq, and has a last issue on 28 July 2020 and an expiry date on 27 July 2023. A second certificate, number IT-119334, has the same dates of last issue and expiry. Not excluded that the updated certificate was there, but that it had not yet been replaced on the site. The hypotheses about the accident: why did the train go at 100 km/h? The train was empty and not in commercial service: it was traveling on track 1, in the direction of Turin. But how could such a serious accident have happened? Why was the train traveling at 100 km/h? The investigation by Polfer and the Ivrea prosecutor’s office, under the guidance of the Ivrea public prosecutor Giulia Nicodemi, will have to clarify these aspects. The first investigations will focus on examining the documents and phonograms, those messages transmitted by telephone and transcribed on paper forms, according to appropriate rules to allow subsequent verification. The images from the cameras will be able to say something: the area of track 1 (where the impact occurred) under the eye of the video surveillance whose footage will be analysed. Carabinieri, firefighters and men from the ASL Spresal also intervened on the site of the disaster. The authorized passage and the authorization From the first investigations by Polfer, and from the crossing of data and documents analyzed up to now, it seems that the passage of the engine and the wagons, engaged in a logistical movement, was foreseen and authorized. Usually, when work must be carried out on the line, this is interrupted with a written provision of formal authorization to operate, following the interruption granted, by Rfi authorized personnel. The investigations will therefore have to clarify what went wrong in the communication between the company involved in the works and Rfi. The victims, age and residenceThe five victims of the Brandizzo train accident are Kevin Lagan, 22, Michael Zanera, 34, and Giuseppe Saverio Lombardo, 52, born in Marsala, all residing in Vercelli; Giuseppe Sorbillo, 43, born in Capua and resident in Brandizzo; Giuseppe Aversa, 49, from Chivasso. The cross that appeared during welding: God wants to tell me something While I was welding the rail, a crucifix came out, the first time this happened to me. In his last post on social media, a few moments before the impact, Michael Zanera had published that image that had formed while he had the welder in his hand, seeing something different, however. A symbol. A sign that the 35-year-old had read sent especially for him, who was a very believer, from above. Kevin? My partner’s son, I loved him dearly Melania, the partner of Kevin Lagan’s dad, the youngest of the victims of the Brandizzo train crash, does not rest. In front of the station she walks between the building and the car, consoled by her daughter and her and her cousin: she often worked at night – she says – the last time I saw him yesterday evening at dinner. In theory it’s not a dangerous job, and every now and then I told him “be careful”, but when you know you’re doing maintenance you do it because you know nobody’s around. And he wasn’t afraid of anything. Her pain breaks her sentences: he was my partner’s son, but I raised him, I loved him dearly. She has her hands on her face and is crying Cinzia, cousin of Kevin: I heard they are pieces (the bodies, ed) and something that destroys you. How do you say something like that? They are not puzzles. The foreman: I lost my balance due to the blast. In the Chivasso emergency room, in two separate rooms, there are the two train drivers and the two survivors. Polfer will hear from them shortly. Physically they are fine, but psychologically tested and are assisted by specialists. The foreman told the manager of the Dea Paolo Franzese that he had lost his balance due to the movement of air due to the passage of the train. The other worker was slightly further away and was working with tools. The worker to his wife: I’m fine. You don’t have to worry The wife of the surviving worker, Cinzia, told Corrriere.it that this morning her husband called her in tears from the hospital. I am fine. You don’t have to worry she told her. A gentleman who lives near where the train stopped tells of hearing the curses of the train drivers, who had got off the engine. We heard the roar, not the whistle We heard a roar, that’s all.. the train didn’t whistle, no nothing. She tells LaPresse Laura, a resident of Brandizzo who lives along the railway. My husband – she says – she asked me if she was normal. At first I even thought of a subsidence of the underpass. We didn’t go out into the garden – he continues – but we saw the flashing lights around one o’clock. Not having heard the sirens, we didn’t think of such a tragedy. The resident and the bunches of flowers Meanwhile, people from Brandizzo bring flowers to the site of the disaster. A woman left a bouquet of yellow daisies with this note: Respect for the victims of honest work. At the bar in Borgo Vercelli, the pain of colleagues At the bar called Bivio Sesia, at the entrance to Borgo Vercelli, the owner says that this morning at six the colleagues of the boys who died because the company arrived for a coffee before the shift a few tens of meters further on. She says their eyes were streaked with tears and their faces dark, everyone talking about their colleagues and what they had said to each other, what they had done yesterday. Their last meeting. The mayor of Brandizzo: Perhaps a communication error A colleague from 118 told me he had seen a creepy scene, with human fragments within 300 meters. a huge tragedy. Thus the mayor of Brandizzo, Paolo Bodoni, who is a doctor by profession, after the accident that occurred last night on the Turin-Milan railway line. One of the two uninjured workers should be the foreman, claims the mayor who then adds: It cannot be excluded that it may have been a communication error between the team on site and whoever had to coordinate the work on the tracks, in any case it will be necessary to wait for the outcome of the investigations. Probably there was a human error, and I don’t know if 160 kilometers per hour is the right speed for a train passing through the station. one thing I wonder, as a citizen. The president of the Piedmont Region: Close to families We wanted to be here immediately, to be close to the families of people who had gone to work and died, a huge tragedy, we cling to their loved ones, says the president of the Piedmont Region Alberto Cirio, in front at the Brandizzo station. The mayor of Turin: Yet another tragedy We are here to express our closeness – adds the mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo – for the death of these five boys who died for inexplicable reasons. the yet another tragedy at work. Witnesses: We heard a loud noise We were at the bar right in front of the station – says Giulia, from Brandizzo – when we heard a loud noise, like an accident, but with something that dragged something else behind it. Her boyfriend, Antonino, ran to see what had happened and if anyone needed help, but a chilling scene was found before her eyes. Now in shock, the young woman says again. There were only the drivers on the logistic transfer on the convoy. Line blocked, regular high-speed trainsAt five in the morning today the Turin-Milan regional railway line was still blocked, between the Brandizzo and Settimo Torinese stations, a few kilometers from the Piedmontese capital. Traffic on the high-speed line is regular. Intercity trains between Milan and Turin are subject to cancellations, route limitations and replacements with buses. Still not OK for train removal The Ivrea prosecutor’s office, which coordinates Polfer’s investigations, has not yet given Rfi technicians the authorization to intervene for the removal of the train, stopped about a kilometer from the Brandizzo station. For the removal of the train, still stationary on track 1, three train drivers and some technicians arrived on site. The condolences of RfiThe Italian railway network itself explains that it took immediate action, together with the competent authorities, to which it is offering the broadest support and collaboration, to reconstruct the dynamics and causes of the tragic accident in Brandizzo, in which five workers of an external contractor company. The company expresses dismay and deep sorrow for what happened and condolences to the families of the victims. The unions, united: We are dismayed. Strike and mourning A tragedy that leaves us dismayed for which responsibility must be quickly ascertained. the time has come to check with Ansfisa, the national agency for the safety of railways and road and motorway infrastructures and Rfi, if the procedures governing the intervention of external parties on the railway network and the current safety standards can still be improved . This was stated jointly by Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl, Uiltrasporti, Ugl Ferrovieri, Orsa Ferrovie and Fast Confsal who announce that a strike by Rfi maintenance workers will soon be called as a sign of mourning. Salvini: Internal inquiry The Ministry of Transport will appoint an internal inquiry commission. Minister Matteo Salvini specifies this. In 2023 you cannot die on the tracks at night, it is clear that there was a human error. I’m not in the human condition to go any further. On Monday strike by the CGIL, CISL and UIL trade unions of Vercelli, after the very serious accident that took place last night in Brandizzo, they proclaimed an 8-hour territorial strike for Monday 4 September to draw attention to security problems. There will be a demonstration with a procession that will start at 10 from the area in front of the Vercelli station. All the union structures of CGIL, CISL and UIL of Piedmont will participate in the initiative. Also on Monday, workers in the building and construction sector – the one with the most victims at work – will stop for 8 hours throughout Piedmont. Filt CGIL and UilTrasporti del Piemonte also proclaimed an 8-hour regional strike for all transport in Piedmont for Monday 4 September, not subject to the law on strikes in essential public services. This massacre must be stopped immediately, writes the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini. So much anger. We have been denouncing for some time the serious issue, never resolved, of the safety procedures relating to the maintenance phases of the railway network. Too many tragedies at work are determined by the desire to lower the safety systems to speed up time and save on work. CONI: a minute’s silence in sporting competitions On the instructions of CONI president Giovanni Malag, the FIGC has arranged a minute’s silence during the matches of all the championships scheduled over the weekend (including advances and postponements) in memory of the victims of the accident. Regional day of mourning proclaimed in Piedmont The Piedmont Region proclaims a regional day of mourning. With this decision – reads a note – the Region wishes to express Piedmont’s condolences and closeness to the families of the victims and their communities. The day will coincide with the funerals of the victims, flags will be displayed at half-mast and citizens will be invited to observe a minute’s silence. Article being updated… 31 August 2023 (modification on 1 September 2023 | 09:14) © REPRODUCTION RESERVED
