Relatives of victims of one of Italy's worst rail accidents gathered on Wednesday to identify their dead, as rescuers searched for missing bodies from the wreckage of a head-on collision that claimed at least 25 lives.
As the country grieved, investigators were trying to establish the cause of the high-speed crash between two busy passenger trains in the Puglia region of southern Italy.
Shell-shocked families at the Policlinico hospital morgue in Bari were being called in turns to search among the coffins for their loved ones after Tuesday's tragedy.
The civil protection agency said 25 bodies had been recovered, two people were missing and 50 people had been injured.
Red Cross workers asked for details to help identify the most badly mutilated bodies, from tattoos to scars and clothing colour.
One girl was reportedly identified by her engagement ring.
"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.
Black box recovered 
Officials said they had recovered the black box from one of the trains which investigators hope will throw light on the collision, which happened on a stretch of single track in open countryside, slinging some carriages into bordering olive groves.
One of the drivers was confirmed dead, with rescue workers recovering a hand and a leg from the mangled mess of his cabin.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited the site late Tuesday, saying it was "a time to cry, be close to the families, show humanity in our pain," and vowing to "throw light on what happened and who is responsible".
Investigators said at least one of the trains had been travelling very fast, and it was possible the collision was caused by human error.
One of the four-carriage trains was supposed to have waited at a station to let the other train through, before heading down the track between the towns of Corato and Andria. The go-ahead to proceed is given by the station managers by telephone.
According to La Stampa, the line dates to 1965. It said a call for tenders to modernise the security system and lay a second track had been scheduled to open later this month.
About 55% of the rail network in Italy is single track. A pot of €150mn allocated by the European Regional Development Fund in the 2007-2013 budget to add second tracks went largely unused, the newspaper said.
Naming the dead 
Transport Minister Graziano Delrio is expected to address parliament on Wednesday about the incident.
Only five of the victims had identity documents on their person, the rest presumably in wallets or bags sent flying across carriages on impact, making it more difficult for authorities to name the dead.
University students, farm workers and office employees were on the trains, as well as grandparents and children. The bodies of a mother and child were pulled from the wreckage, while a trapped six-year old boy was found alive, next to his dead grandmother.
The trains were operated by private railway company Ferrotramviaria -- just one of the 30 or so private companies which run on small lines criss-crossing Italy in areas not covered by national operator Trenitalia.
Ferrotramviaria said it was not possible to say how many people had been on board, as many passengers had season tickets.