BAD AIBLING, Germany — Two commuter trains crashed head-on Tuesday in southern Germany, killing 10 people and injuring around 90 as they slammed into each other on a curve after an automatic safety braking system apparently failed, the transport minister said.
The regional trains collided before 7 a.m. on the single line that runs near Bad Aibling in the German state of Bavaria. Aerial footage shot by APTN showed that the impact tore the two engines apart, shredded metal train cars and flipped several of them on their sides off the rails.
The first emergency units were on the scene within three minutes of receiving the call, but with a river on one side and a forest on the other, it took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage. Hundreds of rescue crews using helicopters and small boats shuttled injured passengers to the other side of the Mangfall River to waiting ambulances, which took them to hospitals across southern Bavaria.
Nine people were reported dead immediately while a tenth died later in a hospital, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag said, adding that the two train drivers were thought to be among the dead and one person was still missing in the wreckage.
"This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region," police spokesman Sonntag said.
German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said safety systems on the stretch had been checked as recently as last week, but Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested that a system designed to automatically brake trains if they accidentally end up on the same track didn't seem to have functioned properly.