Freight and Passenger Trains Collide in Germany, 16 Injured

More than a dozen people were injured on late Wednesday when a freight train and a passenger train collided in northern Germany, officials said on Thursday morning.

Photo: Freight and Passenger Trains Collide in Germany, 16 Injured

The accident happened around 11.30 p.m. local time near Peine, a town in Lower Saxony not far from Hanover, on the line between Hannover and Braunschweig. According to a spokesman for the Federal Police, a freight train carrying gravel derailed and collided with a regional passenger train on a straight track, WireUpdate reports.

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.

Police say several train cars fell into the yards of people living next to the railway but caused no injuries, according to The Canadian Press.