Ten people died when a regional passenger train collided with a goods train late on Saturday in eastern Germany, police and firemen said.
Up to 20 other people were seriously injured in the accident, which happened at Hordorf near Oschersleben, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, firemen and police said. They gave differing numbers.
About 20 others suffered minor injuries, according to firemen. A total of 40 people were evacuated to hospitals, a police spokesman said.
Photo: Reuters
Contrary to earlier reports from police the trains did not catch fire, according to fire service officials. The passenger train derailed and landed on its side.
No images of the accident scene were shown on German television in the hours following the drama.
More than 150 firemen, police and rescue workers were at the scene.
A few hours after the accident they were working under arc lights around the passenger train, according to a photographer at the scene. Several ambulances were waiting.
The regional train was the HarzElbeExpress (HEX) -traveling between Magdeburg and Halberstadt.
The causes of the accident were not immediately known, said Joerg Puchmueller, the northeast region spokesman for the Veolia Group, which runs the HEX line.
There is a single line running between Magdeburg and Halberstadt and maintenance work was scheduled for the night, the HEX Web site said.
Traffic was interrupted on the line and bus shuttles were set up, a HEX staff member said contacted by telephone.
The Veolia spokesman said the train had a capacity of about 100, but could not say how many were on board at the time of the collision.
The goods train also belonged to a private company.
Police set up an emergency number that could be called by families of the victims.
Germany has been hit by several deadly train accidents in the past few years.
In 2006, 23 people were killed and 10 injured when an experimental magnetic suspension Transrapid train crashed at 170 kph on a test track at Lathen in northwest Germany in a collision with an inspection vehicle.
In June 2003, six people died and 25 were injured in a frontal collision between two regional trains near Schrozberg in the southwest of the country.
However, the worst postwar train disaster occurred on June 3, 1998, when an InterCity-Express (ICE) high-speed train traveling from Munich in the south to Hamburg in the north hit a bridge and derailed, killing 101 and -injuring 88 at Eschede in northern Germany.
In August last year, 15 people were injured when an ICE high-speed train traveling from Frankfurt to Paris hit a garbage truck near Lambrecht in southwest Germany
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in