Two days following the serious train accident in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, all the fatalities have been identified by the police. Four of them were women aged 32, 39, 51 and 70. According to the Oberbayern Süd police, the fatality, which was only recovered on Saturday from under the overturned train wagon, is a teenage boy. More than 40 people were injured in the accident, some seriously. They were taken to hospitals in Bavaria and also in Austria.
After rescuing the victims, the helpers are now concentrating on the clean-up work. The police did not assume on Saturday that more dead people would be found. But it wasn’t ruled out.
In addition to cranes, other heavy recovery equipment is to be used for the clean-up work, such as a 250-ton rail crane from Wanne-Eickel in the Ruhr area. Among other things, this should be used to lift the locomotive back onto the track, as a railway spokesman explained. The work is likely to take some time. It is still unclear why the regional train jumped off the tracks on Friday followingnoon shortly following leaving for Munich. There had never been a collision with another vehicle before.
The death toll rose to five on Saturday. A male body was recovered from the rubble, police said. Media reports that it should be a student were not confirmed by the police on request. According to the police, the other four dead were adult women.
After one of the destroyed wagons might be lifted, the emergency services did not expect to find any more fatalities. But that cannot be ruled out, said a police spokesman. About seven people were still missing. However, it is possible that they were among the more than 40 injured – including, according to the information, several seriously injured.
Wagons twisted
The emergency services fought with the pitfalls of a complicated rescue. Attempts to lift the wagons with lifting bags, for example, initially failed. The wagons were “twisted and twisted,” said a police spokesman. “That makes the rescue so difficult. You have to proceed step by step.”
“It’s an incredible event,” said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) during a visit to the scene of the accident. “We very much hope that there will be no further deaths.” Such an accident is always a shock and a “stab in the heart”. It was a train that was there for many students. “You have to imagine it like this: it’s just before the holidays, there’s a relaxed atmosphere on the train, in one of the most beautiful regions Bavaria has – and then something like that happens and possibly changes a life completely.”
No clash
According to the police, the driver was questioned. However, the police did not say what he said. The only certainty so far is that a collision with another vehicle can be ruled out. “We are investigating in all directions,” said a spokesman. “The exact cause of the accident has not yet been determined. On the spot, all experts were of the opinion that the most likely cause should be a technical defect on the track or on the train,” said Bavaria’s Minister of Transport Christian Bernreiter (CSU) on Saturday when asked by the German press -Agency.
According to him, more experts should arrive during the day to explore possible reasons. “It is now a question of clarifying the cause of the accident precisely and quickly.” Söder also emphasized: “It’s the turn of the responsible authorities.” According to a railway spokesman, the route was equipped with electronic interlockings and modern safety technology.
The route was modernly equipped
According to a railway spokesman, the route was equipped with electronic interlockings and modern safety technology. On Friday followingnoon, several regional train wagons with a total of around 140 people on board derailed on the way to Munich in the Burgrain district. The train’s double-decker carriages overturned, slid down an embankment and remained lying next to a main road. Some of the victims suffered serious injuries and required emergency surgery. It was one of the worst rail accidents in Germany in recent years.
The district office in Garmisch-Partenkirchen announced that by the end of the salvage work, car traffic in the region will probably also be affected by disabilities in the middle of next week. Traffic from Autobahn 95 is to continue to be diverted on a large scale, with the highway remaining closed to the south.
Munich’s Cardinal Reinhard Marx said on Friday evening that he was “shocked and sad that people were torn from their midst, killed or injured, some seriously, in this terrible accident.” The loss that the relatives of the deceased had to suffer was “difficult to bear and cannot be explained in words”.
