A tram derailed and smashed into a building in Milan on Friday, killing two people and injuring 38 others, police told AFP.
One of the dead was hit by the tram as it derailed and the second victim was a passenger, the city’s mayor Giuseppe Sala told reporters at the scene.
Firemen wrapped shocked passengers in emergency blankets while ambulances took the more seriously injured to hospital.
The accident came only days after Milan finished hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics. It is preparing to host the Paralympics and is currently staging Milan Fashion Week.
An initial investigation suggested the driver had not activated a track switch. He had also run through the last stop on the line before the accident, Sala said.
“There was a man who was trapped under the tram, his arm was trapped,” witness Valerio Gaglione told AFP.
“There were lots of people injured inside the tram, I saw an old man completely covered in blood,” he said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “deepest condolences” over the deaths. Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, who is from Milan, said he was “grieved” by the accident and called for answers.
Prosecutor Marcello Viola, the lead investigator, said the impact beween the tram and the building was “devastating”.
One victim was an Italian in his 60s, while the other was an immigrant who lived in the city, Sala said.
He said the tram was new and the driver was “an expert”, whose shift had only begun an hour before the accident.
“It doesn’t look like it was a technical issue, but was connected to the driver,” Sala added.
The driver was in hospital but not seriously injured, he said.
Witnesses told media that the tram, which smashed into a tree and then the window of a restaurant, had been travelling fast.
A video widely shared on Italian media from a car cam showed the tram leaning over to one side as it raced into a curve towards the building, before lurching to the other side and crashing.
It was not immediately clear if it was breaking the 50 kilometres (31 miles) per hour speed limit for trams.
“I just heard an enormous bang,” a 27-year-old called Anna, who was in her office nearby when the crash happened, told AFP.
The yellow and white tram, which is 25 metres (80 feet) long and seats 66 people, could be seen slung across the road.
One passenger told the ANSA news agency “I thought it was an earthquake”.
“I was sitting and ended up on the floor, along with the other passengers. It was terrible,” the passenger said.
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