1 killed, 14 hurt in train collision near Munich

FRANKFURT (AFP) – One person was killed and 14 people were injured Monday when two commuter trains collided near Munich in southern Germany, police said.

The cause of the crash at around 16:40 p.m. local time (1540 GMT) was not immediately clear.

Images in local media showed passengers standing next to the track after the collision, with at least one partially derailed carriage visible.

”One person died in the collision of two S-Bahn trains,” Munich police tweeted. Another 14 people were injured, a police spokeswoman told AFP.

The crash occurred near the S-Bahn urban rail station of Ebenhausen-Schaeftlarn, southwest of Munich, with the two commuter trains apparently slamming into each other head-on on a single track line.

More than 200 rescue workers and police were sent to the scene. One injured person was initially trapped inside a carriage, but was later freed, according to police.

Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper reported that around 95 passengers were on the two trains, and that a train driver got trapped in the mangled wreckage.

The stretch of track in Germany’s Bavaria region was closed off after the incident, with rail replacement bus services running.

Passengers on board the trains told the local Merkur newspaper that they had felt a loud bang and were thrown forward in their seats.

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said the relevant authorities had opened an investigation. “No assessment can be made about the cause of the accident at this moment,” it said in a statement.