|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 13 June 2003 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Six dead in head-on German train collision Germany, Thursday (AFP) Six people were killed and at least 25 injured in Germany Wednesday when two passenger trains hurtled into each other in head-on collision on a single track, police and railway authorities said. The death toll included three children, a woman and the two train drivers, a police spokesman said. Neither police nor the national rail company Deutsche Bahn could immediately explain the cause of the disaster. Investigations focused on the signals system and points, but experts did not rule out technical faults in the trains. Trains on the roughly 100-kilometre (62-mile) line travel in each direction once an hour at peak times and pass each other on sidelines only at stations. One of the locomotives toppled over on to a nearby road, and one of the cars capsized. Dieter Huenerkoch, railways communications director, said the two trains had been on schedule. Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Mehdorn, promised a "speedy and unbureaucratic" support for survivors and victims' dependants. The accident occurred around noon (1000 GMT) just 300 metres (yards) from the railway station at Schrozberg near Stuttgart in the southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg state. The two trains were travelling towards each other between the towns of Crailsheim and Bad Mergentheim when they met head-on, Deutsche Bahn said in a statement. It said each train had four cars. One locomotive rolled down an embankment. One carriage tipped over and the rest were badly damaged. The injured were helicoptered to hospital and an emergency centre was set up. German Transport Minister Manfred Stolpe visited the scene and voiced his his sympathy for those "who have lost their loved ones so tragically." |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
