Four dead in train crash near Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Wagons tip over, injured people are pulled out of windows: four people died in a train accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Upper Bavaria (D) on Friday. A total of 60 people were treated with injuries, 16 of them serious, said a spokesman for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district office on Friday followingnoon shortly following the accident. The police later spoke of “regarding 30 injuries”, 15 were taken to hospitals.

The regional train was on its way to Munich around noon. The accident happened on the last day of school before the holidays, around 12:15 p.m. Particularly dramatic: It cannot be ruled out that many students were on the train at the beginning of the vacation. The train was probably derailed, according to a spokesman for the federal police – why was initially unclear.

Wagons slid off the embankment

Aerial photos show that the train with double-decker carriages was traveling on a long, single-track curve. There is no switch to be seen. The section of track is elevated on a railway embankment, several wagons slid off the embankment into a small stream. The busy B2 leads right past it.

Three wagons overturned. “People are pulled through the window,” said the federal police spokesman. The accident happened in the district of Burgrain in the Loisachauen. “All age groups” were among the injured.

Rescue workers with a large contingent on site

Fire brigade, emergency doctors and police were on site with a large contingent. “A full alarm was triggered for the fire brigade and rescue service,” said a spokesman for the rescue control center. According to a spokesman for ADAC air rescue, six rescue helicopters were in action, three of them from ADAC.

An American soldier was in one of the cars on the road next to the railway line and told his impressions of the “Garmisch-Partenkirchner Tagblatt”: “It was terrible,” he said. “Just awful. Suddenly the train overturned.”

The train blocked the route between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberau. Trains from Munich turn early in Oberau. From the Mittenwald direction, the trains turn early in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Replacement traffic is being planned, it said on Twitter.

Deutsche Bahn expresses condolences to relatives

Deutsche Bahn (DB) expressed its deepest sympathy to the family following the accident. The federal company said in Berlin that emergency services and DB employees were at the scene of the accident. No statement can yet be made regarding the cause of the accident on Friday followingnoon.

For the region on the border with Austria, the accident just before the holidays is also a disaster in terms of traffic. Federal roads 2 and 23, which run close to the railway lines, were completely closed. “We can’t let the traffic run in the direction of Garmisch-Partenkirchen at the moment because the rescue workers are on the road,” said a police spokesman. Because of the beginning of the Pentecost holidays in Bavaria, long traffic jams are to be expected on the route.

(man/SDA)