6 killed in Danish train accident

COPENHAGEN: Six people were killed and 16 others injured on Wednesday when a Danish passenger train apparently hit falling cargo from a passing freight train as it crossed a bridge linking central Denmark’s islands.

The rail operator, Danish Railways, earlier told Denmark’s TV2 that the victims were passengers on a train going from the city of Odense, on the central Danish island of Fyn, to Copenhagen when the accident took place about 8 am local time.

Police spokesman Lars Braemhoej said that while “we do not know precisely what caused the accident,” one possible cause was that cargo from a passing freight train fell off and hit the passenger train. He added there was “considerable damage” on the passenger train.

Police declined to comment on a report from Denmark’s TV2 channel that a container had likely fallen off the cargo train.

Danish media initially reported that a tarpaulin on a freight train hit the passenger train, which was going in the opposite direction, prompting it to brake violently.

“Ordinary Danes on their way to work or heading home from the Christmas holidays have had their lives smashed,” said Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen. Photos from the scene show the freight train was carrying crates of beer, and the tarpaulin that covered the train was torn in pieces. Kasper Elbjoern, spokesman for Danish brewery group Carlsberg, confirmed a freight train transporting its cargo was involved.