Mourners identify dead in Italy train collision

Relatives of victims of one of Italy's worst rail accidents gathered to identify their dead Wednesday, as rescue workers at the scene of the head-on collision between two trains dismantled the wreckage in search of missing bodies.

Shell-shocked families at the Policlinico hospital morgue in the southern Italy city of Bari were being called in turns to search among the dead for their loved ones in the wake of Tuesday's tragedy which left at least 25 people dead and some 50 others wounded.

The civil protection agency said 25 bodies had been recovered and two people were still known to be missing.

Red Cross workers asked for details to help identify the most badly mutilated bodies, from tattoos to scars and clothing colour.

"We can't rule out finding other people in the wreck. It's slow work," said Luca Cari, spokesman for the firefighter department, as emergency services used a crane and diggers to clear crumpled carriages from the track near the town of Andria.

Sniffer dogs were being used to search through the wreckage.

Officials said they had recovered the black box from one of the trains which investigators hope will throw light on the high-speed collision, which happened on a stretch of single track in open countryside, slinging some carriages into bordering olive groves.