Italy train crash: At least two dead after train hits lorry and derails near Turin

Rail officials say lorry smashed through barriers at level crossing, causing three train carriages to derail

Firefighters and rescue personnel at the site of a crash after a regional train smashed into a truck in Caluso, outside Turin (AFP/Getty Images)

At least two people have been killed and 18 injured after a train crashed into a lorry and derailed outside the Italian city of Turin.

Rescuers were working through the night to look for passengers trapped under the wreckage of the train, which smashed into the big-rig lorry near the town of Caluso at 11.20 pm.

The Rfi regional railroad said the railway barrier had lowered properly before the train's approach but for reasons unknown the lorry smashed through the barrier and ended up on the tracks.

The crash, which occurred about 50 minutes into the journey out of Turin, derailed three train cars.

The Italian news agency ANSA said the first fatality was the engineer of the train. Later, one of two critically injured people who were flown by helicopter to a hospital died.

One of the less seriously injured was reported to be a crew member, while the others were passengers. Ambulance dispatches said a total of 18 people were injured, most of them not critically.

The truck driver escaped injury, ANSA said. The rig, which carried Lithuania license plates, was headed to a warehouse not far away. The truck's cargo wasn't immediately known.

ANSA quoted a young woman who broke her leg in the crash as saying she felt as if she was being pushed from behind, then fell. The passenger, who wasn't identified in the report, said she feared she would die, describing the scene as terrible.

Another passenger, 23-year-old Paolo Malgioglio, told the Torino Today news site that after the crash, he saw a scared passenger crouched down in a corner of the car who asked him to hold her hand. She said she had trouble breathing and couldn't feel her legs, he said.

"I tried to pull the door open but it was stuck," said Malgioglio, who appeared uninjured. "I really don't know how I made it out like this. I really don't."

AP