Several Dozen Injured in Train Collision in Swiss Alps

August 9, 2003 - 0:0
GSTEIGWILER, Switzerland -- Several dozen people were injured, one seriously, when two regional passenger trains collided in the Swiss Alps on Thursday, police said.

Several carriages came off the rails when the accident occurred at Gsteigwiler near the southwestern resort of Interlaken.

Police said a total of 64 people had been injured, more than half of them lightly hurt, while one was seriously injured. The previous figure given was 12, but police said a number of the injured had taken refuge in a barn and had not been immediately discovered by rescuers.

The injured were taken to hospital by helicopter or ambulance, rescue service officials said.

The accident occurred on a local line between Interlaken and the village of Zweiluetschinen in the Bernese Alps, railway officials said.

Investigators said a Bernese Oberland Railway train had stopped on a single-track railway when it was hit by a specially-operated train.