10 killed in German train crash, the toll could rise
BERLIN – German authorities said on Sunday that the death toll could still rise from the head-on collision of cargo trains and passenger trains that killed at least 10 people, injured 23 people and left debris scattered across the frost-covered field.
Accident is one of the worst train accidents in the history of Germany.
"The accident was so severe that the passenger train was catapulted off the rails", Armin Friedrich, a police officer in charge of rescue operations, said at a news conference in Hordorf, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) south-west of Berlin, Germany capital. About 200 police and rescue workers were sent to the crash site.
The cause of the accident was under investigation, and experts said they were still looking at all possibilities, including technical failures and human error. The state governor Wolfgang Boehmer, who visited the site on Sunday, told reporters one of the drivers may have missed red signal traffic.
Police said it was too early to talk about possible causes.
"We remain silent and shocked by the images and the level of destruction," said Holger Hoevelmann, interior minister of Saxony-Anhalt.
Passenger train operated by Harze Elbe Express was on its way from Magdeburg Halberstadt with 50 passengers on board, moving at a speed of 62 miles per hour (100 kph) when it collided with a freight train, which was 50 miles per hour (80 km / h).
Freight train, run by Peine-Salzgitter, carrying calcium carbonate, often used as a substitute for calcium or antacid.
Neither driver could be immediately reached for comment, but the head of Deutsche Bahn, the German national railroad, the agency DAPD, that he was "deeply upset" by the accident.
"Of course, we will do everything possible to support all those involved in this accident," Ruediger Grube said, adding that he had contacted the Hartz-Elbe-Express, and offered to help.
On the stage, the distorted part of the blue and yellow passenger train were scattered across the field. Dark prints of some bodies that were removed can be seen on a white frosty ground near the crash site.
Noise of the collision was heard in the village of Oschersleben, more than four miles (about seven miles).
Because of heavy fog, rescue helicopters were unable to fly the wounded to nearby hospitals, and they should have been taken by ambulance instead. Most of the wounded were so badly hurt that doctors fear the death toll could rise, Hoevelmann added.
Several German media said the train driver and conductor of the passenger train were among the dead, but police did not confirm these reports.
Two bodies have been identified, but police did not want to release their identity to inform the relatives. Telephone hotline has been activated for family members and friends, and psychologists, and ministers were on the scene to rescue staff attorney.
Police said they had problems identifying the victims because most of them were not carrying ID.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her condolences, saying that she too was in shock.
"My thoughts are with the families of the victims," Merkel said in a statement.
The Chancellor also thanked the many rescue workers for their immediate and tireless assistance.
In 2006, 23 people were killed in a train crash in Emsland in northern Germany and 101 people were killed in 1998 when high-speed train tracks near Eschede in Lower Saxony,.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
More Source:
10 killed in German train crash, toll could riseGerman rail crash kills at least 10 | World news | The Guardian
10 Killed in German Train Crash, Toll Could Rise | The Jakarta Globe
10 killed in German train crash, toll could rise - Democratic ...
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Submited at Monday, January 31st, 2011 at 10:00 am on News by samantha
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