EmergencyNet News Instant Update

06/03/98 - 09:05CDT

Hanover, Germany (EmergencyNet News) -- According to rescue forces on the scene, at least 70 people have been killed in a major train crash/derailment near the town of Eschede, which is located about 35 miles North of Hanover. At least 13 cars are thought to have come off the tracks.

Extrication and body recovery efforts are still underway and rescuers say that the death toll may continue to rise as they reach inaccessible parts of the badly damaged train. EMS and fire personnel also report "numerous" serious injuries to survivors. The cause of the derailment has not yet been determined.

EmergencyNet News continues to monitor events in Germany and will provide additional reports as more details become available.

HANOVER, GERMANY (EmergencyNet News) - Rescuers are working with cranes and police dogs on Thursday to search for survivors of Germany's worst rail disaster in half a century. Police say they have retrieved 81 bodies after a train traveling 120 mph derailed Wednesday and slammed into a road bridge near Eschede train station, north of the central city of Hanover. Two more people have died in the hospital, and rescue workers say they expect the death toll to rise above 100. Workers have not yet reached two or three rail cars still buried beneath the collapsed bridge. But they say the chance of finding more survivors is very small.

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ESR CLOSE UP

ESCHEDE, GERMANY (EmergencyNet News) - At least 100 people were believed killed when the lead locomotive of a Hamburg-bound InterCity Express train broke loose at 125 mph on Wednesday morning, leaving behind 12 passenger cars and a second locomotive that careened off the tracks and crunched together like an accordion. On Thursday, hundreds of workers lifted chunks of a collapsed overpass with cranes to search for victims who may still be trapped in passenger cars crushed and buried when the train jumped the tracks.

Rescuer workers say they expect to recover more bodies from a first-class car and a dining car that are still wedged beneath the ruins of the over-pass, but said it was unlikely survivors would be found. Eighty-nine bodies have been recovered so far and two more people died in a hospital. More than 200 people were injured; 95 had been treated in hospitals for serious injuries. More than 1,100 rescue workers rushed to the scene, including trauma surgeons and border patrol personnel.

Wednesday's train crash was the worst on Germany's rails since World War II. It remained unclear why the lead locomotive decoupled from the rest of the train. Police said four cars separated from both the locomotive and the rest of the train and cleared the overpass before derailing. Still being pushed by the rear engine, the others jumped the tracks into the concrete supports of the overpass, collapsing it and jackknifing into each other.

The driver of the lead locomotive had no idea about what happened and continued through the Eschede train station, until the station master engaged the emergency brake.