2 trains collide near Vienna, several injured

BERLIN – Two passenger trains collided on Friday near Vienna, injuring several people, authorities said.

The trains, one of them regional and the other local, collided near the station in Kritzendorf, north of the Austrian capital, a little before 6 p.m. Two cars turned over, and a third was leaning to one side.

The point of impact appeared to be the sides of both trains, which were traveling in the same direction and then derailed.

Infrastructure Minister Norbert Hofer told the Austria Press Agency that four people were slightly hurt and another four more seriously injured. A rescue helicopter took one person to a Vienna hospital with head injuries. Austrian media, citing emergency services, had earlier put the number of injured at between 15 and 20.

“We suspect that the cause is to be found in human error, not in a technical defect, but that will be verified in the coming days,” Hofer said.

The trains were evacuated by shortly after 7:30 p.m.