LÜSCHERZ (AFP) – Fifteen people were injured on Friday when two trains derailed as stormy winds lashed northwestern Switzerland, police said.
The incidents, on regional passenger rail lines, took place within 20 minutes of each other, and about 30 kilometres apart, north of the Swiss capital Bern.
Three people were injured in the first derailment, including the driver, and 12 were hurt in the second, including one person with serious injuries.
Wind speeds of 136 kilometres per hour were recorded nearby.
One train carrying 16 people derailed in the lakeside village of Luscherz at around 4.30pm, police said.
“While a strong wind was blowing… the front carriage of the train overturned on the right of the track, slipped down a small embankment for a few metres and finally came to a halt,” Bern cantonal police said in a statement.
“Three people, including the driver in the overturned carriage, were injured, treated by four ambulance teams and taken to hospital.”
The front carriage of the two-carriage train could be seen lying on its right side on the grass verge between a path running alongside the railway line and a field.
Workers in orange workwear and hard hats were at the scene, with a ladder alongside the carriage to help reach the upturned left side. Firefighters helped to get people out.
