ROME, Italy (AP) — A high-speed Italian train slammed into a truck at a railroad crossing yesterday in south-east Italy, killing the train's engineer and injuring 25 passengers, railway officials said.

The truck got stuck on the tracks after ignoring the bars that were being lowered to indicate that a train was coming, railway spokesman Marco Mancini said. The truck driver abandoned the vehicle, making it to safety just before the Silverarrow train from Rome to Lecce ran into it, he said.

The collision knocked the train off the tracks that cross a local highway near Cisternino in Italy's Puglia region.

A railway statement said 10 passengers were hospitalised for injuries and 15 other passengers were treated for minor injuries such as bruises.

Brindisi Prosecutor Marco Dinapoli told reporters near the crash site that investigators had determined that the alarm system warning of a train's approach had worked fine. He said it appeared the driver

of the tractor-trailer "committed a grave, imprudent act", according the Italian news agency ANSA.

The report said the truck driver, a 26-year-old Romanian man, was arrested and jailed for suspected manslaughter.