At least 100 dead in rail disaster

Part of a bridge collapsed onto the wreckage of the train

The rescue operation to find survivors of the German rail disaster is continuing under floodlights with the death toll now more than 100 and expected to rise to 120.

Two classes of schoolchildren remain missing, believed trapped in the wreckage of the passenger cars which were crushed by a concrete overpass.

The train was travelling from Munich to Hamburg when it went off the rails just before 1100 (0900 GMT) on Wednesday in Eschede, 35 miles (50km) north of Hanover.

Confusion surrounds the number of people injured. Lower-Saxony state officials said at least 300 people were injured. But rescue coordinators, speaking at a news conference, reported 40 injured.

As the rescue operation continued, two possible causes of the tragedy were emerging. Initial reports said that a car had through the bridge barriers into the path of the train, which was travelling at 120mph.

The train then slammed into the bridge's central support, bringing down the concrete overpass onto the passenger carriages.

But an account given later by the Chief Regional Rescue Co-ordinator Klaus Rathert conflicted with this explanation. He said the train's locomotive had decoupled from the carriages, which then crashed into the bridge pillars.

Rescuers fight to free survivors

Police said an automobile belonging to a rail employee working on the tracks was crushed beneath the wreckage, but that it had probably been sitting alongside the tracks, not on the overpass.

About 400 people are thought to have been on board the train, but the lack of a precise figure has made it difficult to determine the toll of dead and injured.

More than 1100 rescue workers fought to free victims during the course of the day, including trauma surgeons, border patrol personnel and 20 British soldiers and army doctors from a nearby base at Celle.

A police spokesman described the scene as "a disaster zone". German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has cut short a trip to Italy and was due to visit the scene of the crash on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.