Local media reported that the train was travelling about 160km/h when five rail workers were killed in the Turin area.

The accident took place at approximately midnight (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday in the municipality of Brandizzo, part of Turin’s metropolitan area, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported.

According to reports, the men were employed by a company that was carrying out work to replace segments of the train line, which connects the major northern cities of Turin and Milan, when they were run over by a locomotive moving empty carriages from Alessandria towards Turin.

Italian media including ANSA and Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that the train was travelling at some 160 kilometres per hour (almost 100 miles per hour) when the incident occurred.

The workers were said to have been dragged for some distance before the train came to a halt. Two of their colleagues working nearby managed to escape.

Paolo Bodoni, the mayor of Brandizzo, told the AGI news service than an emergency worker had described to him a “chilling scene, with human remains across 300 metres”.

“It’s a huge tragedy,” he said.

“It cannot be excluded that there could have been a communication error,” he said, adding that an investigation was underway.

The train driver was in shock but otherwise unharmed, ANSA reported.

Italy’s train network infrastructure manager Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) expressed “deep sorrow” following the incident and sent condolences to the families of the deceased workers, according to media reports.

Un treno ha investito e ucciso nel Torinese cinque operai che erano al lavoro sui binari. Altri due sono rimasti feriti#ANSAhttps://t.co/wwbgSnUfOj

— Agenzia ANSA (@Agenzia_Ansa) August 31, 2023

[Unofficial translation: A train hit and killed five workers who were working on the tracks in the Turin area. Two others were injured]