A tragic train derailment in southern Germany has left at least three people dead and around 50 others injured — including 25 with serious injuries — as investigators now examine whether severe weather may have contributed to the deadly crash.
The accident occurred on Sunday, July 27, around 6:10 p.m. local time, when a regional express train carrying approximately 100 passengers derailed in a wooded area near Riedlingen, a small town in the Biberach district of Baden-Württemberg. The train was en route to the city of Ulm at the time of the derailment, according to reports from the Associated Press, AFP, and German outlet DW.
Photos from the scene show several overturned yellow and gray train cars, with rescue crews working to extract passengers from the wreckage. Emergency helicopters arrived shortly after the crash to airlift the injured to nearby hospitals.
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German train operator Deutsche Bahn confirmed the fatalities and said the cause of the derailment remains under investigation. “We ask for your understanding that we cannot comment further at this time,” a company spokesperson told PEOPLE.
However, authorities say weather may have played a role. Interior Minister of Baden-Württemberg Thomas Strobl said that recent heavy storms in the area may have triggered a landslide, which could have destabilized the tracks.
“There have been heavy rains here, so it cannot be ruled out that the heavy rain and a related landslide may have caused the accident,” Strobl said. “But this is currently being investigated.”
Florian Gebhard, head of trauma surgery at Ulm University Hospital, where many of the injured were treated, told German broadcaster SWR that most patients suffered limb, spinal, and head injuries. “Many were in shock,” he added.
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Train service along the route has been suspended, Deutsche Bahn confirmed.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his condolences and support in a message posted on X, formerly Twitter:
“The train accident in the Biberach district shocks me. I am in close contact with the Interior and Transport Ministers and have asked them to support rescue efforts with all available resources.
We mourn the victims. I express my condolences to their families.”
The derailment has rattled the region and prompted urgent questions about the impact of increasingly severe weather on infrastructure safety. Investigations are ongoing.
