Berlin, June 17: A train crash in northern Germany has injured 16 people and caused several million euros in damage, a police official said on Thursday.
A regional train’s engine and two passenger cars derailed after hitting a cargo train near Hannover. Two of the cars fell into the yards of people living next to the railway, police spokesperson Paul-Gerhard Heppe said.
The collision late on Wednesday left the regional train’s conductor severely injured, and 15 passengers less seriously hurt, he said.
The two trains crashed after the cargo train carrying 49 cars of gravel partly derailed for unknown reasons.
The regional train coming from the opposite direction then hit the cargo train cars that had tipped onto its tracks.
Heppe said that the accident could have been a lot worse. Only 65 people were travelling with the train shortly before midnight and the passenger car that fell into the nearby yards was empty.
The rail link between Hannover and Braunschweig will remain closed at least throughout the day, he said.
–Agencies