Train accident in Bavaria: Cranes prepare other wagons for transport

Mith large, heavy equipment, the emergency services continue to work at the accident site of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen train accident. The work was interrupted on Sunday evening, a police spokesman said. It should continue on Monday.

The scene of the accident was “secured, cordoned off and guarded,” he said. In addition to the clean-up work, the investigations continue, the Soko “Zug” works under the direction of the Munich II public prosecutor’s office. How did the accident with five deaths come about?

More than 40 people were injured on Friday. The train was on its way from Garmisch-Partenkirchen towards Munich at lunchtime, and there were also many schoolchildren in it.

The clean-up work is time-consuming – cranes heave the derailed cars onto a street, then they are dismantled and transported away on low-loaders. On Sunday, an excavator split the first car in half, and one half was then transported away with a low-loader.

Continued traffic delays

The identification of the five fatalities was largely completed on Sunday. According to the police, these are women aged 32, 39 and 70 and, according to previous knowledge, a 51-year-old. The fifth victim recovered on Saturday is a teenage boy.

With the help of a special crane weighing 250 tons, the locomotive was to be put back on the track, among other things. These and the remaining wagons should then be transported away by rail if possible. The work is likely to take some time, police said. The railway also said it was not yet possible to estimate when the route would be cleared.

The work will continue to affect road traffic. Traffic in Sindelsdorf (district of Weilheim-Schongau) is diverted from the Autobahn 95 in the direction of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Traffic from the Augsburg region is diverted from the federal highway 17 to Füssen in the direction of the Fernpass. Traffic from Mittenwald/Innsbruck is routed at Krün in the direction of Bundesstraße 11. Access to the Passion Play in nearby Oberammergau is still possible, it said.