Two commuter trains have crashed head-on in a remote area in southern Germany, killing at least nine people and injuring 150, police said.
The two regional trains crashed before 7am on the single line that runs near Bad Aibling, in Bavaria, with several carriages overturning, police spokesman Stefan Sonntag said. Fifty of those hurt have serious injuries, he added.
It took hours to reach some of the injured in the wreckage and authorities were still working at midday to remove the final body from the train.
“Once that is done then the investigators can begin their work,” federal police spokesman Rainer Scharf said at the scene.
The rail line is commonly used by commuters heading to work in Munich, and would normally also carry children travelling to school, but they are currently on holiday.
It was not clear how fast the trains were travelling at the time of the crash, but German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said they were permitted to travel of speeds up to 120km per hour (80mph) on that stretch of track.
The trains crashed in a remote area about 60km (40 miles) south east of Munich in an area with a forest on one side and a river on the other.
Rescue crews using helicopters and small boats shuttled injured passengers to the other side of the Mangfall river to waiting ambulances. Authorities said they were being taken to hospitals across southern Bavaria.
Hundreds of emergency personnel from Germany and neighbouring Austria were on the scene looking through the wreckage and aiding in the evacuation of the injured.
“This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene,” Mr Sonntag said.
The two trains from the so-called Meridian line were both partially derailed and wedged against one another, train operator Bayerische Oberlandbahn said in a statement on its website.
It was not yet clear what caused the crash, police said.
Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, speaking from the crash scene, said his thoughts were with the family members of the dead and the injured.
“We need to find out know what happened, if the cause of the crash was based on the technology or human failure,” he said.
Bayerische Oberlandbahn said it had started a hotline for family and friends to check on passengers.
“This is a huge shock. We are doing everything to help the passengers, relatives and employees,” Bernd Rosenbusch, the head of the Bayerische Oberlandbahn, said.
In Munich, the city blood centre put out an urgent call for donors in the wake of the crash.
The Munich Blood Donation Service, which delivers blood products to local hospitals, said on its website that there was “an acute increased need for life-saving blood products” after the accident and called for immediate donations.