6 killed in train accident on on the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark

Six people were killed and 16 injured in an accident Wednesday involving a crowded commuter train and a freight train on the Great Belt Bridge in Denmark, Danish police said.

The accident took place at about 7:30 a.m. (1:35 am ET) in high winds on a bridge linking the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen.

Passengers have been evacuated from the train but police and rescue teams are still working at the scene.
Strong winds are making the rescue operation harder, Funen chief of police Lars Bræmhøj told a news conference.

“We still do not know exactly what happened,” he said. “There was a freight train with goods that came off the wagon, and a passenger train then hit it. How it happened we cannot say. What we do now is run an investigation, which is very thorough, and therefore it will take time before we can say exactly what happened.”

None of the injuries were life threatening, Bræmhøj said. Police have yet to share the identities of those killed.

The freight train was carrying Carlsberg beer over the bridge, a spokesman for the brewing company, which has its headquarters in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, told CNN. The train was run by Deutsche Bahn Cargo Scandinavia, said Carlsberg spokesman Kasper Elbjorn.

Jan Wildau, of Deutsche Bahn Cargo Scandinavia, confirmed that one of its freight trains was involved but was unable to say exactly what happened. “We drive beer daily between Fredericia and the capital,” he said. “We have never had anything like this happen before.”

No one was injured on the freight train, which had only the driver on board, he said.

Passenger Jim Nielson, who is from Denmark but lives in Ireland, told CNN he was going to the airport to catch a flight back after the holidays when the incident occurred.

“I was on the second coach when the crash happened. There was a cargo train coming from Zealand, the opposite direction. It was shaking due to the strong wind,” he said.

“One of the containers was blown off the cargo train into the rails, because of the wind. Our driver tried to stop the train, pulling the brake. But the train continued to drive a bit, and crashed into the container blown off from the cargo.

“I saw sparks coming from the wheels. I ducked and bumped my head. Ten seconds later I heard a sudden bang. Then the train came into a halt. There was a lot of confusion, total darkness. Passengers on the first coach took the hardest hit, I believe that’s where most of the casualties are.”

Nielson spoke from an evacuation center in the city of Nyborg, on Funen, where he was taken with scores of others from the train. “It’s a bad way to start the New Year, but I’m glad to be safe,” he said.

Heidi Langberg Zumbusch was also in the second carriage with her sister and two nieces, aged 11 and 18.

“We had just got on the train in Nyborg, and it felt like we barely made it out before we heard a giant crash, and then all the windows where we were sitting exploded. They exploded in towards us, and we all fell to the floor,” she said.

“We were very scared, and also, it was only 7:30 so it was pitch black and dark still. We had no idea how far out over the water we were.”

Lamberg Zumbusch said she and her relatives had decided to take the train rather than drive because of the windy conditions. They felt something hit the train and could see beer cases as they were led away by responders, she said.

“They started bringing people out of the first compartment, the first one on the entire train. I could see that some of the wall was torn down and those people who came out were quite beaten up. Of course, that was the compartment where some of them didn’t come out,” she said.

“We were very, very lucky. We were going to be in that first compartment, but just as we were getting on the train rolled a bit further and we got into the second wagon.”

The bridge has now reopened to road traffic in both directions but rail services remain suspended, police said.