Update on Italy train crash: Station master admits to error which led to deaths of 23 people

A station master has confessed to an error which led to the deaths of 23 people in a head-on train crash in southern Italy earlier this week.
'I let the train go, I was the one who gave the signal,' Vito Piccarreta, 57, told Italian media.
Two trains collided on a stretch of single track between Andria and Corato in the region of Puglia on Tuesday morning (you can read the story here). The antiquated system relied on station masters telephoning one another to advise whether or not a train was running on the single track. Today Mr Piccarreta, who was the station master at Andria,told La Stampa newspaper: 'I'm not the only one at fault, everyone is blaming me. But I'm a victim too.'

Mr Piccareta, who had worked on the railways for 24 years, said because services were running late on Tuesday three trains were travelling in the area at the time of the crash but he said he was unaware of the train from Corato. Mr Piccarreta gave his train at Andria station a green signal to go. But the Italian media has also said the Corato station master, Alessio Porcelli, 62, is also in the spotlight because Mr Piccarreta reportedly warned him the train was on its way. Mr Piccareta and the station master at Corato have both been suspended as part of an investigation into multiple manslaughter. The death toll stands at 23 and includes a farmer who was killed by flying debris as he worked in a neighbouring field. A giant crane has been brought in to remove the mangled carriages and clear the site, in an olive grove, where the trains collided. But the prefect of nearby Barletta, Clara Minerva, said four other people were missing and it is thought their bodies may lie inside the wreckage. Local officials said 51 people had been taken to hospital but 27 had since been released. Seven people remain in a critical condition, including a seven-year-old boy whose grandmother was killed.