Reports: Death toll of Italy’s train derailment rises to 16 as 2 children die in hospitals

Report: Italian train derailment death toll at 16

ROME — News reports say two children have died after suffering severe burns in an explosion that followed a train derailment in northern Italy, raising the death toll to 16.

The ANSA news agency and Sky Italia said Wednesday that a 3-year old girl died overnight in a Rome hospital, while a 2-year old boy died in a Florence hospital.

The Civil Protection Department confirmed the death of the girl but could not immediately confirm the other casualty.

A train carrying liquefied gas derailed while traveling through a downtown neighborhood in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio at around midnight Monday. The derailment set off a massive explosion that caught residents as they slept. Dozens were injured.