Horror accident leaves one dead after freight train hits children in Germany’s Ruhr region

A tragic accident late on the evening of Thursday, February 2, saw a freight train run into two children in Germany’s industrial Ruhr region. According to the Ministry of the Interior, the incident occurred in the town of Recklinghausen. One of the children died and the other was seriously injured.

Local fire brigade officials confirmed that drones had been deployed to help rescue teams and around 35 firefighters search for the victims in the dark. “We searched the track bed”, said a spokesman for the fire department, as reported by welt.de.

According to the dpa news agency, the child who succumbed to his injuries was ten years old. The seriously injured child is said to be nine years old.

Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is reported to have visited the scene of the accident this evening, along with the town’s mayor. Police sources confirmed that two young children were involved in the incident but refrained from offering further information.

Initial media reports from Bild, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) reported that they had been dragged along several hundred metres down the tracks.

A spokeswoman for the Deutsche Bahnhe said that the railway line between Gladbeck and Recklinghausen main station was closed. There are restrictions on regional traffic on the S9, RE2 and RE42 train lines. Long-distance traffic is not affected.

Unglück in #Recklinghausen: Zwei Kinder sind am Abend von einem Zug erfasst worden. Laut @RTLWEST-Informationen ist ein Kind gestorben, eines schwer verletzt. #NRW-Innenminister @hreul ist auf dem Weg. pic.twitter.com/9TBxOJDHlg

— Reddig (@SebastianReddig) February 2, 2023

Die Opfer sind 9 und 10 Jahre alt, kommen aus #Recklinghausen. Der Ältere stirbt vor Ort, der Jüngere ist schwer verletzt und wird aktuell im Krankenhaus behandelt.

Mehr zum aktuellen Stand von Andreas Lesch, Sprecher der @polizei_nrw_re. pic.twitter.com/gLs6TWpiA8

— Reddig (@SebastianReddig) February 2, 2023

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