Garmisch-Partenkirchen At least four people have died in a train accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A total of 60 people were treated with injuries, 16 of them serious, said a spokesman for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district office on Friday afternoon.
The regional express was on its way to Munich around noon. The accident happened around 12.15 p.m. in the district of Burgrain in the Loisachauen in the popular Upper Bavarian holiday region. It cannot be ruled out that many students were on the train at the beginning of the holidays. According to a spokesman for the federal police, the train was probably derailed – why was initially unclear.
Deutsche Bahn also announced in Berlin that no statement could yet be made about the cause of the accident. Emergency services and DB employees are at the scene of the accident. At the same time, the federal company expressed its deepest sympathy to the relatives of the victims and set up a special hotline on 0800-3111111.
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 runs right past it.
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According to the federal police, three wagons overturned. “People are being pulled through the windows,” the spokesman said. Among the injured were “all age groups”, including children. The dimension of the accident cannot yet be estimated at all. Twelve rescue helicopters circled the area in the Alps.
Serious train accident near Garmisch – several dead
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 integrated control center in the Oberland. Numerous rescue teams also arrived from Munich.
The press spokesman for the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South, Stefan Sonntag, said calls had been received from citizens that a train had derailed. The first slightly injured were recovered. They would be collected in a nearby building. Relatives are also on site.
Numerous emergency and rescue workers are on duty after the serious train accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
(Photo: dpa)
Bavaria’s Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) made his way to the scene of the accident. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) also made her way to Garmisch after the end of the conference of interior ministers in Würzburg. There she wanted to express the sympathy of the federal government in view of the terrible train accident, said a spokesman for the ministry.
The train blocked the route between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberau. Trains from Munich turn early in Oberau. From the Mittenwald direction, the trains turn around early in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it said on Twitter. Replacement transport is planned. It was unclear whether the regional train was particularly full because of the new 9-euro ticket.
For the region on the border with Austria, the accident just before the holidays is also a disaster in terms of traffic. The Autobahn 95 was closed around 20 kilometers from Garmisch. The federal highways 2 and 23, which run close to the railway lines, too. “At the moment we cannot let the traffic run in the direction of Garmisch-Partenkirchen 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.