The death toll from Friday’s train derailment in Bavaria has climbed to five, while at least 44 people are injured
Investigators combing through the wreckage of a passenger train that derailed on Friday near a resort in Germany’s Bavarian Alps have raised the death toll from the crash to five and said more bodies may be discovered.
At least 44 people were injured, including an unspecified number of children, and four of the five passengers who were killed were women, police said. “At the moment, we do not believe there were further victims, but I cannot yet say for sure,” regional deputy police chief Frank Hellwig told reporters on Saturday.
The crowded train had just left Garmisch-Partenkirchen on its way to Munich when it ran off the rails around midday on Friday. Initial reports indicated that four people were killed and about 30 were injured. Footage from the scene showed carriages tipped over on their side with passengers trapped inside. One carriage was lying on its roof after jumping the track and overturning.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, and authorities have apparently ruled out foul play. “There were no third parties involved, so one must assume that some technical reason – either on the vehicle or on the rail – was the cause,” said Christian Bernreiter, Bavaria’s transport minister.
With summer holidays just starting in the southern German regions of Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria, police feared that many of the passengers were students traveling home. The train also may have been packed with people using Germany’s new €9 public transport ticket, a subsidized pass that allows travelers to make as many trips as they like with their highly subsidized monthly pass.
The incident comes as the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district prepares to host the G7 summit later this month at the Schloss Elmau resort in Krun. The resort is only about 10 kilometers from Garmisch-Partenkirchen station.
Women and girls face “deadly consequences” in the Somali region of Ethiopia due to the worst drought conditions for forty years, according to the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA.
ANAND, India, Jun 03 (IPS) – Common lands are natural resources that are used collectively by a community, such as forests, pastures, ponds, and ‘wastelands’. They act as a resource base for non-cash, non-market economies that provides fodder, fuelwood, water, oils, fish, medicinal herbs, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to the local communities.
Police patrolled Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Saturday after authorities for a third consecutive year banned public commemoration of the anniversary of the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The country said some weapons with Swiss-made parts could be sent to Kiev
Switzerland ruled on Friday that shipping weapons with Swiss-made components to Ukraine does not violate the country’s centuries-old neutrality, if certain conditions are met.
“The delivery of war material in the form of assembly elements or spare parts to European armament companies will… remain possible, even if the manufactured war material is likely to be sent to Ukraine,” the Swiss government said.
Officials further clarified that the re-export of weapons is permitted if the share of Swiss-made elements in the final product is below a certain threshold, such as 50% for countries such as Italy and Germany.
The re-export of fully Swiss-made arms and ammunition would still violate the country’s neutrality, however.
Switzerland recently rejected Denmark’s request to provide Ukraine with 22 Swiss-made Piranha III armored infantry fighting vehicles, as well as Germany’s request to give Kiev 12,400 rounds of the Swiss-made ammunition used in Gepard anti-aircraft tanks.
Western countries have been increasingly supplying Ukraine with weapons after Russia launched a military campaign against the neighboring state in late February.
The Pentagon announced this week that the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) will be sent to Ukraine for the first time. Germany similarly pledged to supply Kiev with IRIS-T air defense systems.
The Kremlin responded by accusing the West of “pouring fuel on the fire.” Russia previously said that foreign weapons systems would be treated as legitimate targets on Ukrainian soil.
Russia attacked Ukraine following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
