Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement A landslide has derailed a train in north-eastern Italy, killing at least nine people and injuring about 30, Italian media say. Monday's accident occurred in a valley near the winter sports town of Merano, close to the Austrian border. Trees prevented the train plunging into a river, and firefighters are said to have used cables to secure the wagons. Officials say the landslide may have been caused by a leaking water pipe further up the hillside. An investigation is under way. The accident took place at around 0900 (0700 GMT) on the line from Castelbello to Laces, not far from the city of Bolzano. It is now only a few trees that are holding up the train and preventing it falling into the river
Eyewitness Alex Rowbotham
Watching the rescue effort In pictures: Italy derailment The authorities say the mass of water, mud and rock came without warning, burying the regional train as it passed through the alpine valley, the BBC's Bethany Bell reports from the scene. The death toll had been put at 11, although this was later revised down to nine because of what provincial governor Luis Durnwalder said was a "counting error". But he warned Ansa news agency that the toll was not final as "there could still be someone buried in the mud". The train driver is understood to be among the dead. The most seriously injured have been taken by helicopter to nearby hospitals. Rescuers dug frantically with shovels and pickaxes in at least one mud-filled carriage to try to reach the victims, Ansa reported. Eyewitness Alex Rowbotham told the BBC: "The front of the train, the cab, is not there at all and the train is hanging off the rails about five metres from the river. "It is now only a few trees that are holding up the train and preventing it falling into the river." He said the train was on the other side of the Adige river to the main road, and it appeared as if rescuers were building a pontoon across the river to enable them to carry across necessary equipment. Thomas Widmann, transport adviser to the Bolzano provincial government, told Sky Italia that the landslide appeared to have been caused by an irrigation pipe that burst, piling rocks, debris and water on to the oncoming train. The railway line, inaugurated in 2005, is one of the most modern in the country, Ansa said. It runs at the foot of an alpine valley with mountains towering up to 3,000m (9,850ft) above.
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At least nine people have died in northern Italy after a landslide caused the derailment of a passenger train. A further 25 people were injured, according to emergency services.

The incident occurred earlier this morning near the border with Austria, in a mountainous region near Merano, a city around 300 kilometres north of Venice.

"There are nine confirmed victims, while 28 people have been injured, seven of them seriously," reported the governor of the Bolzano-Bozen province, Luis Durnwalder, to the Reuters news service. Initially, eleven people were reported dead, due to what the governor described as a "counting error". However, he noted that "there could still be someone buried in the mud", so the death count is not yet final.

According to the ANSA news agency, the train had about forty passengers on board when it derailed. Sky TV, meanwhile, quoted officials as saying that three people are reported to be missing. The authorities say the landslide was due to a broken irrigation pipe, which caused rocks to fall onto the tracks below. Authorities say they are looking into why the pipe burst.

The trains front car hit two trees upon derailment, local media says, which prevented it from dropping off into a river below. The carriage, however, was hanging over the river, and firefighters had to use cables to stop it from falling any more. A crane was also dispatched the scene to help clean up debris, ANSA reported.

"The train is hanging off the rails about five meters from the river. It is now only a few trees that are holding up the train and preventing it falling into the river," said a witness, Alex Rowbotham, to the BBC.

"... The landslide occurred at the very passage of the train. It hit the train," said Thomas Widmann, a transport official for the city of Bolanzo.

The crash was the deadliest in Europe since February, when eighteen people died after two commuter trains ran into each other near Brussels, Belgium. Italy saw its worse rail crash two decades ago, when 29 people died following the derailment of a freight train carrying petroleum gas, resulting in several explosions.