FRANKFURT: A train derailment in a wooded area of southwestern Germany that killed three people on Sunday may have been caused by an overflowing sewer, local police and prosecutors said Monday.
“It is believed that heavy rain in the area of the accident caused a sewage shaft to overflow,” Ulm police and Ravensburg prosecutors said in a joint statement.
“The water triggered a landslide on the embankment next to the tracks, which in turn caused the derailment,” they added.
About 100 passengers were aboard the train when the accident occurred at around 6:10 p.m. (1610 GMT) near the town of Riedlingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg state.
Severe storms swept through the region at the time of the accident, according to weather services.
