Italian officials on Wednesday pointed to delayed, EU-financed rail improvements and the "risky," antiquated telephone alert system used in parts of Italy as possible underlying causes of a violent head-on train crash that killed some two dozen people. Recovery operations continued Wednesday using a giant crane and an extra locomotive to remove the mangled cars and debris of the two commuter trains that slammed into one another just before noon Tuesday in the neat olive groves of southern Puglia. The official death toll stood at 23, including a farmer working his fields who was killed by flying debris from the crash. The prefect of Barletta, Clara Minerva, said relatives reported another four people unaccounted-for and suggested that their remains could have been scattered within the wreckage, particularly in the area of highest impact.
