A woman was killed instantly when a train slammed into her car and pushed it more than 100m along the tracks.
Firefighters pulled Luisa Astori, 50, from the mangled wreckage but could do nothing to save her life.
The horror unfolded shortly after 10:40pm on Tuesday (23 Apr).
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It was dark and there was a slight curve in the tracks just before the level crossing.
Because of this, the train driver only saw the car when it was right in front of him.
He activated the emergency brake, but the train could not stop in time.
The police are investigating the case.
They are currently perplexed as to why the car was in the middle of the tracks in Cologne, Italy, when the level crossing barriers were down.
As there are no CCTV cameras in the vicinity, it is not clear how long it had been in the passenger train’s path.
No one on the train was harmed in the collision, as reported on Need to Know.
The police are studying footage from other cameras further afield to see if they can shed some light on Luisa’s death.
All lines of investigation, including a mechanical failure and even suicide, are open.
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