But as they treated the victim a young
man captured the scene from the station platform in a selfie that has
provoked widespread anger.
He was himself pictured by a news photographer who complained "we have completely lost a sense of ethics".
Police caught the young selfie-taker and forced him to delete his picture.
The young Canadian woman caught up in the accident late last month was taken to hospital and had a leg amputated.
The
man in white Bermuda shorts who took the selfie on a platform at
Piacenza station has been investigated and does not appear to have
committed a crime.
But the image of him pointing his mobile phone
at the dramatic rescue scene has appeared on many front pages in Italy
and attracted incredulity on social media.
Corriere della Sera said he appeared to be making a "V for victory" sign with one hand while taking the shot with the other.
A
commentary in La Stampa spoke of a "cancer that corrodes the internet".
The young man who took the selfie was not bad, argued Antonella
Boralevi. Instead, he had turned off his soul and his personality and
become an "automaton of the internet".
Radio host Nicola Savino
told listeners that the human race was "galloping towards extinction".
One user on Twitter said simply: "Nothing surprises me any more."
Journalist Giorgio Lambri, who photographed the scene on 26 May,
wrote about his experience on Sunday for Piacenza newspaper Liberta
under the headline: "The barbarism you don't expect: the 'selfie' in
front of a tragedy."
He also posted his story on Facebook, suggesting an alternative headline of "Houston, we've got a problem", because of the man's apparent lack of moral compass.
