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.
“The current toll is four dead, 15 critically injured, 40 severely injured and a total of 100 injured,” said police spokesman Martin Winkler in the town of Rosenheim.
The serious casualties were airlifted to hospital by helicopter, while ambulances transported the rest.
The cause of the accident near Bad Aibling, around 60 kilometres (40 miles) southeast of Munich, was not immediately clear.
“At the scene of the collision, all you can see is debris. Rescue workers are climbing around and pulling people out,” Bavarian broadcaster “Bayerischer Rundfunk” quoted a rescue worker as saying.
The cause of the collision was not immediately clear. The trains belonged to the Meridian transport service, part of the Transdev group, while Deutsche Bahn is responsible for the track.
“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,” police spokesperson Stefan Sonntag said, adding that some people were still stuck in the wreckage.
Due to Bavaria’s Fasching version of this week’s carnival celebrations, the train was believed to be carrying fewer passengers than would normally be expected during commute hours.
The accident happened at 6.48 a.m. local time (0548 GMT) near Bad Aibling in the southeastern corner of Germany. Rescue teams were on site.
