Nine Dead, 150 Injured in German Train Collision

BERLIN (Reuters/AP) —
The wreckage of a carriage is pictured at the site of two crashed trains near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany, February 9, 2016. Several people died after two trains collided in the southern German state of Bavaria on Tuesday, a police spokesman said, adding about 100 people were also injured.   REUTERS/Josef Reisner      EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE
The wreckage of a carriage is pictured at the site of two crashed trains near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany, Tuesday. (Reuters/Josef Reisner)

Nine people were killed when two trains collided head-on in southeast Germany early Tuesday, police said, adding about 150 people were injured, including 50 seriously.

The collision took place on a single track and one train was derailed, said a police spokesman.

The cause was unclear and police said that, alongside the rescue effort, investigations were starting into establishing what had happened.

The crash between two local passenger trains happened at 6:48 a.m. local time near Bad Aibling in the southern state of Bavaria near the border with Austria.

Dozens of rescue teams were on site and helicopters carried some of the injured people to nearby hospitals. The area was sealed off.

Helicopters of rescue services are seen at a field near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany, February 9, 2016. About eight people were seriously injured and 12 more slightly hurt in a train crash in the southern state of Bavaria on Tuesday, German police said. REUTERS/Michael Dalder
Helicopters of rescue services are seen at a field near Bad Aibling in southwestern Germany, Tuesday morning. (Reuters/Michael Dalder)

The trains’ operator, Meridian, is part of French passenger transport firm Transdev, which is jointly owned by state-owned bank CDC and water and waste firm Veolia.

It runs train, tram and bus networks in 19 countries and had revenues of 6.6 billion euros in 2014.

All survivors have now been taken to safety and investigators are beginning to look through the wreckage.

German news agency reported that the rail line is used by commuters going to Munich for work. Usually schoolchildren also take the trains, but they are currently on winter vacation.

State-owned Deutsche Bahn is responsible for the track. The line has a system that makes a train brake automatically if it goes through a red light.

 

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