According to police, a train derailed in Germany’s south-eastern state of Bavaria, killing at least three people and injuring about 60 others. Three carriages of the train, which was carrying a large number of students, came off the tracks near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

According to a police spokesperson, the cause of the accident is unknown. Several crumpled train carriages lie on their sides, according to images published by local media. A spokesperson for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen local authority told reporters that sixteen of the injured were in critical condition.

As rescue efforts continue, six helicopters have been dispatched to the scene, including three from the Austrian region of Tyrol. “People are being dragged through the windows,” according to police. It is not impossible, according to police, that a number of students celebrating the start of the summer vacation were among those injured.

The train had just left Garmisch-Partenkirchen for Munich when the accident occurred around 13:15 local time (11:15 GMT). According to Deutsche Bahn, a section of the route between Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen has been closed and traffic has been diverted.

When the train derailed, a US soldier stationed at a nearby air base was driving by. He told local media that the accident was “just awful – the train overturned suddenly.”

In 1998, a high-speed train derailed in Eschede, Lower Saxony, killing 101 people, making it Germany’s deadliest rail accident in modern times. The country’s most recent fatal crash occurred in February, when two trains collided near Munich, killing one person and injuring 14 others.

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