A passenger train with 100 onboard detailed near Riedlingen, Germany, on Sunday, Photo by EPA/Nonstop News.
July 27 (UPI) — A passenger train derailed in southwest Germany on Sunday night, killing at least three people and injuring 34, including three seriously, according to emergency services.
A landslide from a storm sent debris on the tracks, causing the front of the train to derail, soar 16 feet up a slope and crash into trees at 6:10 p.m. local time, Schwabisch Media reported.
The crash occurred at Riedlingen near Stuttgart in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. That is 98 miles west of Munich.
Operator Deutch Bahn said the crash was caused by “unknown reasons,” according to the BBC. The train departed Sigmaringen at 5:33 p.m. local time and was headed to Ulm.
The Regional Express 55 contained about 100 occupants when two details derailed, Germany news agency dpa reported.
“The train accident in the Biberach district is a shock to me,” German Chancellor Freidrich Merz posted on X. “I am in close contact with the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Transport and have asked them to support the rescue services with all means possible. We mourn the victims.”
Ulm emergency services aviated the Mass Incursion of Injured, a roll-off container that can treat 25 injured people. The device was initially purchased for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Deutsche Bahn is railroad controlled by the German government, and founded in 1994 after the merger of Deutsche Bundesbahn in West Germany and Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany. Four years earlier, Germany was reunified.