RAILROAD WRECK:
Train crash in Germany kills at least 10, injures 80
At least 10 people were killed, 80 injured in head-on train crash in Germany.
BAD AIBLING, Germany — Crews using helicopters a nd boats resc ued dozens of people from t he wreckage of two German commuter trains that crashed head-on Tuesday in a n isolated part of Bavaria , ki l li ng at least 10 a nd leaving authorities trying to determine why multiple safety measures failed.
The tra i ns crashed on a stretch of track running between a river a nd a forest about 40 miles southeast of Munich. Though the first rescue crews were on the scene in minutes, it took hours for al l sur vivors to be ai rli fted a nd shuttled by boat across t he river to waiti ng a mbulances.
Nine people were reported dead i mmediately whi le a tent h died later i n a hospital, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag said.
The two tra i n engi neers were thought to be among the dead and one person was still missing in the wreckage.
“The missing person is in t he part of t he tra in where there’s little hope of finding anyone alive,” Sonntag said.
“This is t he biggest accident we have had in years in this region,” he added.
I nvest i gator s ca l led of f t hei r se a rc h t h roug h t he r ubble a f ter nig ht fel l , but Sonntag said they would resume at first light as they tried to determine why safety measures failed to stop the crash.
Two black boxes have been recovered and are being analyzed, which shou ld show what went wrong, Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said.
“We need to determine immediately whether it was a technical problem or a human mistake,” he said, adding that crews are still searching for a third black box.
The two trains were supposed to pass each other at a station where the track was divided, and a safety system installed on much of Germany’s labyrinthine rail network was supposed to automatica l ly bra ke tra i ns t hat end up on the same track heading toward each other, authorities said.
I n ste ad , t he t wo t ra in s slammed into each other on a curve, meaning that their en g i ne er s wou ld n’t h ave seen each other until it was too late.
Dobrint said the black box data will show whether there was a signal from the automatic braking system, and if so, why the trains didn’t brake until too late.
German police would not comment on a loca l media report citing an anonymous source t hat aut horities be- lieved human error might be at fault.
“Everybody is at a loss right now,” said Christian Boettger, an expert on Germany’s train system who works at Berlin’s Universit y of Applied Sciences.
“Tra in s a re t he s a fe s t mea n s of t ra n spor t at ion ,” he said. “There are so many security measures in place in this system that the crash is mysterious.”
Passengers spoke of feeli ng h a rd bra k i ng, t hen a “giant bang” as the two trains sl a mmed i nto each ot her, tearing the two engines apart a nd dera i li ng ca rs near t he front.
“I heard people screaming for help and heard the sound of broken glass as people were getting out,” a survivor identified only as Patrick told RTL television.
He said his car was still on the tracks, but he could see t he tra in t hat hit it a nd t he first two wagons of his train were twisted and torn open.
“Bit by bit people were climbing out, some of them daubed in blood,” he said.