Rome - The death Friday of a Moroccan man brought to 21 the number of victims from this week's freight train crash in Italy - one of the country's worst. The incident occurred when the train derailed, crashed and exploded in the Tuscan port city Viareggio just after midnight on Monday.
The 34-year-old Moroccan who had sustained burns over 90 per cent of his body died of heart failure at a hospital in Massa Carrara, news reports said.
Of the more than 20 injured, five were in a very serious condition, officials said Friday.
To date investigations suggest that one of the train's 14 liquid petroleum gas-carrying tanker-wagons veered off the rails after breaking an axle, dragging four other cars with it.
Traces of rust were were subsequently found on the broken axel, Italian officials said.
"Safety depends on proper controls. In this case, I have may doubts, something did not work here," Italian Transport Minister Altero Matteoli, said in a state radio interview.
Also on Friday GATX, the US company owning the tanker car with the broken axle, said from its Europe head office in Austria that it would exchange and test all such parts on its liquid petroleum gas wagons operating in Italy.
This did not imply the company was responsible for the crash, GATX Rail Europe's chief executive Johannes Mansbarth said. It was a "general safety check to restore complete confidence of our customers and the general public," in its wagons. The firm owns 20,000 tanker wagons in Europe.
