COPENHAGEN: Six people were killed Wednesday and an unspecified number were injured in a train accident on a bridge connecting two islands in Denmark, rail operator DSB said.
“We can confirm that six people are dead,” a duty officer told AFP, as media reports said the roof of a cargo train blew off in heavy winds and hit a passenger train that was travelling in the opposite direction.
The accident occurred around 7:30am (0630 GMT) on the Great Belt Bridge connecting the islands of Zealand, where Copenhagen is located, and Funen.
A Funen police spokesman told reporters he could not provide details of the accident, but added: “We know that an object hit the train.”
There were 131 passengers and three crew on board.
Passenger Heidi Langberg Zumbusch had just boarded the train and taken her seat when the accident happened.
“There was a loud crash and the windows started smashing onto our heads. We flew down onto the floor, and then the train stopped,” she told Danish public broadcaster DR.
“We were lucky. The people in the carriage in front of us were not so lucky,” she said, adding that her co-passengers told her they saw the side of that carriage had been ripped off.
Car and rail traffic on the bridge were closed for several hours due to the accident, but car traffic towards Zealand later resumed while rail traffic remained shut in both directions.
The Great Belt fixed link consists of a road suspension bridge and a railway tunnel between Zealand and the small island of Sprogo, and a bridge for both road and rail traffic between Sprogo and Funen. – AFP
