Probe after German train crash kills 10

GERMAN accident investigators began yesterday probing the cause of a head-on crash between a regional passenger train and a freight train that killed 10 people and injured 40.

Interior Minister Holger Hovelmann warned against jumping to conclusions after the head of the regional government blamed human error as the likely cause of the crash.

Wolfgang Boehmer told journalists that the disaster late on Saturday night was probably caused by one of the trains ignoring a red stop light on the section of single track where the crash occurred at high speed.

“It’s likely the stop signal wasn’t respected. It’s not normal that two trains were running on the same track,” Boehmer said.

Federal police official Ralf Krueger told a press conference, however, that accident investigators had yet to reach a conclusion.

“The inquiry has been opened. The conclusion will be made public as soon as possible... The signal system must obviously be checked out,” Krueger said.

The trains smashed into each other head-on at about 10.30pm on Saturday on a section of the rail line at Hordorf, near Magdeburg.

Krueger said the trains hit each other “at considerable speed” and that visibility was poor because of fog.

The regional train, which derailed and landed on its side, was the HarzElbeExpress travelling between Magdeburg and Halberstadt carrying 50 passengers.

Chancellor Angela Merkel sent her condolences to the families of the victims.

Some of the injured were in a critical condition yesterday, police said.