It was a horrific scene, and a tragedy that should have never happened. Two commuter trains crashed head-on Tuesday morning in a remote area in southern Germany, killing at least nine people and injuring some 150, some of whom had to be cut out of the wreckage and transported across a river for medical care, police said.
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, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag told The Associated Press. Fifty of those hurt have serious injuries, he added.
It took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage and authorities were still working at midday to remove the final body from the train.
“Once that is done then the investigators can begin their work,” federal police spokesman Rainer Scharf told the AP from the scene.
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.
It was not clear how fast the trains were traveling at the time of the crash but German rail operator Deutsche Bahn told dpa they were permitted to travel of speeds up to 120 kilometers per hour (80 mph) on that stretch of track.
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.
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.
It was not yet clear what caused the crash, police said.
Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, speaking from the crash scene, said his thoughts were with the family members of the dead and the injured.
“We need to find out know what happened, if the cause of the crash was based on the technology or human failure,” he said.
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.
In Munich, the city blood center put out an urgent call for donors in the wake of the crash.
The Munich Blood Donation Service, which delivers blood products to local hospitals, said on its website that there was “an acute increased need for life-saving blood products” after the accident and called for immediate donations.
Germany is known for the quality of its train service but the country has seen several other accidents, typically at road crossings.
Most recently, a train driver and one passenger were killed when a train hit the trailer of a tractor in western Germany in May, injuring another 20.
In 2011, 10 people were killed and 23 injured in a head-on collision of a passenger train and a cargo train on a single-line track close to Saxony-Anhalt’s state capital Magdeburg in eastern Germany.
Germany’s worst train accident happened in 1998, when a high-speed ICE train crashed in the northern German town of Eschede, killing 101 people and injuring more than 80.
The axis sits separated from the carriage at the site of a train accident near Bad Aibling, Germany, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. (Josef Reissner/dpa via AP)
Aerial view of rescue forces working at the site of the train accident.(Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)
Next to air travel, I always thought that trains were the safest mode of transportation. Now I anot so sure about it.
You could also say, “Next to air travel, trains were the most automated mode of transportation.” My money’s on someone relying on the automation to the exclusion of their own sense.
And I’d still rather get on a train than any other motorized transportation.
Many viscious newcomers in Germany… they came to destroy. They pledge, publicly, to take over. Makes me wonder. An accident, or jihad? We need Trump.
This brings back painful memories for me , I grew up in Germany and my father got killed he was in a bus with 75 people and it ran in to a train killed everybody, my heart goes out to the families and the suffering of the injured
Teaser: “See what caused the accident — and why it never should have happened. ”
Article: “It was not yet clear what caused the crash, police said.”
How about some TRUTH in advertising?
I made the very same observation. I am shocked at this kind of journalistic fraud, but these days we should not be surprised at anything. This is normal for today’s “journalism”.
Gotta understand the difference between the Press and the Publishers. The Press maintains bullpens and pools to actually find facts. Publishers just regurgitate what reporters find with either enough spin to avoid plagiarism claims or a license to take it verbatim, and then (especially on-line publishers) put a catchy click-bait title to it, whether it’s accurate or not. Part of the price we pay for the “convenience” of having “instant” (i.e. maybe copied six times over from something that could actually be months old) news. That’s what you get for saving the expense of a real newspaper subscription.
Praying for all the injured and their families. Also, for families of deceased love ones. May Jesus be their focus during these difficult times for everyone.
Probably caused by muslims stealing the tracks or raping goats on the tracks !
Speed kills.
Head-on collisions aren’t too fun at any speed.
Well, we know what the political left’s answer to this disaster will be don’t we… (hint: throw money at it)
And regulations.