The No. 9 tram was meant to carry straight on along Vittorio Veneto avenue. Instead, at a switch track used by another line, it swerved off course at high speed, nearly tipped onto its side and slammed into a building in the heart of Milan. Two people died in the crash on Friday, February 27, 2026. More than two dozen others were hurt, officials said.
Video broadcast by Sky TG24 shows the tram taking the curve at speed before it stops inside the building. Dozens of ambulances, fire trucks and police cars arrived, and crews walked passengers away from the scene wrapped in thermal blankets.
Mayor Beppe Sala confirmed that one passenger on the tram and one person on the street were killed. None of the other injured, he said, was in life-threatening condition.
Questions about the driver
Sala pointed toward human error. By his account, the driver had apparently not set the switch to keep the tram going straight. He described the man as a seasoned employee, one hour into his shift, who had also skipped an earlier stop before the crash. The driver was being treated in hospital and would be questioned there, Sala said.
ATM, Milan’s public transport company, said it was cooperating with prosecutors “to precisely establish the cause and dynamic of the incident.”
The crash came while the Italian business capital was hosting its seasonal fashion shows, in the gap between the Winter Olympics and the Paralympic Games.
