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| German Train Crash Leaves 8 Dead and Dozens Injured | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| COLOGNE, Germany — At least eight people were killed and several dozen were severely injured after two commuter trains collided head-on in the southeastern German state of Bavaria early Tuesday, an accident that the police said was among the worst in the region. | |
| Stefan Sonntag, a spokesman for the police in Upper Bavaria, said the trains were traveling along the same stretch of track when they slammed into each other shortly before 7 a.m. near Bad Aibling, southeast of Munich. | Stefan Sonntag, a spokesman for the police in Upper Bavaria, said the trains were traveling along the same stretch of track when they slammed into each other shortly before 7 a.m. near Bad Aibling, southeast of Munich. |
| It was not immediately clear why the trains were traveling on the same stretch of track at the same time, he said. Although Germany has a vast railway network, trains traveling in opposite directions frequently share tracks in many rural regions. | It was not immediately clear why the trains were traveling on the same stretch of track at the same time, he said. Although Germany has a vast railway network, trains traveling in opposite directions frequently share tracks in many rural regions. |
| About 50 passengers were severely hurt, Mr. Sonntag said, and 100 sustained light injuries. | About 50 passengers were severely hurt, Mr. Sonntag said, and 100 sustained light injuries. |
| Rescue helicopters, including from neighboring Austria, and dozens of ambulances were sent to the scene of the crash. | |
| “We haven’t seen such an accident in this region in a very long time, if ever,” Mr. Sonntag said. “It is terrible.” | “We haven’t seen such an accident in this region in a very long time, if ever,” Mr. Sonntag said. “It is terrible.” |
| The regional railway provider Meridian, which operated both the trains in the accident, said in a statement on its website that it was working to help all those involved, and it provided a hotline for the families of those on board. | The regional railway provider Meridian, which operated both the trains in the accident, said in a statement on its website that it was working to help all those involved, and it provided a hotline for the families of those on board. |
| “The accident is a terrible shock for us,” Bernd Rosenbusch, managing director of Bayerische Oberlandbahn, the parent company of the Meridian line, said in the statement. “We are doing everything possible to help the passengers, their relatives and the rescue workers.” | “The accident is a terrible shock for us,” Bernd Rosenbusch, managing director of Bayerische Oberlandbahn, the parent company of the Meridian line, said in the statement. “We are doing everything possible to help the passengers, their relatives and the rescue workers.” |
| Images from the scene, published by the local online publication Rosenheim24.de, showed a yellow and blue carriage, its windows smashed, teetering on the railway tracks. Beside it lay shards of glass and mangled pieces of metal. | Images from the scene, published by the local online publication Rosenheim24.de, showed a yellow and blue carriage, its windows smashed, teetering on the railway tracks. Beside it lay shards of glass and mangled pieces of metal. |
| According to the state broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk, the accident took place in a curve in a wooded area by a canal, which could have made it difficult for the trains to see each other. The location also hampered recovery efforts, as rescue workers had to use helicopters and small boats to shuttle injured passengers to the other side of the Mangfall Canal, where they waited for ambulances. | |
| In addition to commuters, the train services at that time are usually booked with children traveling from small villages to schools in larger towns, but schools in Bavaria are on winter break this week. | In addition to commuters, the train services at that time are usually booked with children traveling from small villages to schools in larger towns, but schools in Bavaria are on winter break this week. |
| Some people may also have been traveling to Mardi Gras festivities, which are observed in the largely Roman Catholic state, or headed to the mountains for skiing. | Some people may also have been traveling to Mardi Gras festivities, which are observed in the largely Roman Catholic state, or headed to the mountains for skiing. |
| The circumstances that led to the collision were unclear, but crashes across Europe in recent years have highlighted weaknesses in the rail network, long admired around the world. | |
| Many countries in the region have abandoned government-run monopolies in favor of privately run rail systems, even as the European Union is spending billions of euros to modernize rail networks. | |
| The result is an increasingly precarious system, with a patchwork of old and new technologies in use at the same time, and with drivers, who are often alone in cars, forced to shoulder more responsibility for safety. |