A WOMAN born in Oxford has died after two trains collided head-on on the island of Sardinia early today, police said.

Two Italians also died and at least seven others were badly injured when the freight train and the passenger train collided near Nuoro, in the central part of the island.

Elizabeth Beever, 27, a vet from Marlow, was identified as one of the victims. She had been travelling around Italy with a Canadian friend who suffered minor injuries in the incident.

The crash occurred on a single-track section of the line. One of the trains should have stopped at a nearby station and it was not clear why it did not.

Italian police believe a "communications error" caused the crash as neither driver was aware of an oncoming train, Reuters reports.

The other victims were a local commuter, aged 52, and the driver of one the trains.

The accident happened about 3km (1.8 miles) from the station of Bortigali, in open countryside and on a single-track railway line which dates back two centuries.

Italian media said the section of track was on a steep slope which made it difficult for rescue workers to reach.

In January 2005, 17 people were killed and 60 injured when an inter-city train collided with a freight carrier near the northern Italy city of Bologna.

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