Police said everyone on board the train was pulled from the wreckage amid a chaotic and difficult to reach crash scene. Several dozen people were seriously injured. The death toll may rise.
Helicopters and several ambulances responded to the accident near the town of Bad Aibling, German news agency DPA said. The crash occurred near a river that is surrounded by dense woodlands and uneven terrain.
Local news reports said the trains collided at 6:48 a.m. local time between the stations of Holzkirchen and Rosenheim. Bad Aibling is approximately 40 miles southeast of Munich near Germany's border with Austria.
Both trains were partially derailed, the firm that operates the trains — Bayerische Oberlandbahn — said in a statement on its website.
Bayerische Oberlandbahn did not say what caused the trains to collide.
Alexander Dobrindt, Germany's minister of transport, said it was not clear what caused the crash and if it was the result of a human or technical error.
"As the collision occurred on a bend, it's conceivable that the two train drivers didn't see each other beforehand," he said, speaking at a news conference.
The train line was one used by commuters and schoolchildren but it was less busy than usual because schools in the area were on vacation.
Serious train accidents are relatively rare in Germany. One of the worst incidents, not just in Germany but worldwide, took place in 1998 when a high-speed train derailed near the village of Eschede. One hundred and nine people died, according to DPA
No comments:
Post a Comment