This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/train-crash-in-southern-germany-causes-injuries/2016/02/09/527aa67a-cf01-11e5-90d3-34c2c42653ac_story.html

The article has changed 11 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Train crash in Germany kills at least 4, injures scores Train crash in Germany kills at least 8, injures 150
(about 2 hours later)
BAD AIBLING, Germany — Two trains crashed head-on in southern Germany early Tuesday, leaving at least four people dead and 40 seriously injured, the German news agency dpa said. More than three hours after the crash, emergency services were still trying to reach people trapped in the wreckage. BAD AIBLING, Germany — Two commuter trains crashed head-on Tuesday morning in southern Germany, killing at least eight people and injuring some 150, police said.
Police spokesman Stefan Sonntag told The Associated Press the two regional trains crashed near Bad Aibling, in Bavaria before 7 a.m. and that several wagons overturned. Police spokesman Stefan Sonntag told The Associated Press the two regional trains crashed before 7 a.m. on the single line that runs near Bad Aibling, in Bavaria, and that several wagons overturned. Fifty of those hurt have serious injuries, he said. It took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage.
TV footage showed emergency helicopters and ambulances lined up in an area near the crash scene waiting to transport the most severely injured to hospitals. The rail line is commonly used by commuters heading to work in Munich, and would normally also carry children traveling to school, but they are currently on holiday, the dpa news agency reported.
Sonntag said that the scene of the accident on the tracks between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen was so confusing that he did not have any specific numbers of injured and dead yet. The trains crashed in a remote area about 60 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Munich in an area with a forest on one side and a river on the other. Rescue crews using helicopters and small boats shuttled injured passengers to the other side of the Mangfall river to waiting ambulances. Authorities said they were being taken to hospitals across southern Bavaria.
Hundreds of emergency personnel from Germany and neighboring Austria were on the scene looking through the wreckage and aiding in the evacuation of the injured.
“This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene,” Sonntag said.“This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene,” Sonntag said.
Sonntag said several rescue helicopters from Austria were also involved. The two trains from the so-called Meridian line were both partially derailed and wedged against one another, train operater Bayerische Oberlandbahn said in a statement on its website.
A spokesman for German federal police in Bavaria, Matthias Knott, said that the region was very inaccessible and making rescue efforts more difficult. The crash took place near the river Mangfall in a densely wooded and hilly region. It was not yet clear what caused the crash, police said.
Water police were helping in the rescue efforts as well, dpa reported, taking injured from the trains across the river to waiting ambulances. The injured were taking to hospitals all over southern Bavaria. “We’re still in the middle of the rescue operations, it’s too early to talk about possible reasons for the crash now,” federal police spokesman Stefan Brandl said.
Dpa quoted Bernd Rosenbusch, the head of the Bayerische Oberlandbahn, which runs the trains, as saying, “this is a huge shock - we are doing everything to help the passengers, relatives and employees.” Bayerische Oberlandbahn said it had started a hotline for family and friends to check on passengers.
“This is a huge shock - we are doing everything to help the passengers, relatives and employees,” Bernd Rosenbusch, the head of the Bayerische Oberlandbahn, told dpa.
______
Grieshaber reported from Berlin.Grieshaber reported from Berlin.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.