The BBC's Janet Barrie: "Wreckage and bodies over a wide area"

At least 100 people are now known to have been killed and the death toll is expected to rise as the night goes on. Up to 300 more have been injured, many seriously.

Two groups of schoolchildren believed to have been travelling on the train are still unaccounted for.

German transport minister Matthais Wissmann: 'The worst accident I have ever seen'

The high-speed train was travelling at more than 200km/h (120mph) when it derailed and struck a road bridge, which collapsed onto the following carriages.

The BBC's David Shukman reports that the continuing rescue operation is an indication that the authorities have not yet given up hope of finding more survivors.

Over 1,000 rescue personell were on hand

However a local police spokesman earlier said chances were slight that anyone could be left alive in the mangled carriages. Late on Wednesday the cries for help from the wreckage were becoming fewer.

Estimates of the number of people travelling on the train range from 400 to 800. The lack of an exact figure makes it difficult to determine the number of dead and injured.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl has cut short a visit to Italy and is due to visit the scene of the crash.

The train crash happened at 1100 local time (9am GMT) on Wednesday. The train, travelling from Munich to Hamburg, went off the rails in the town of Eschede, 35 miles (50km) north of Hanover.

Many passengers died immediately as they were catapulted from the train.

Rescue officials were on the scene in minutes. At one point the rescue crew numbered over 1,000, including trauma surgeons, border patrol personnel, and 20 British soldiers and army doctors from a nearby base at Celle, fought to free victims.

Blood transfusions

Doctors battled at the scene of the crash to save the lives of the badly injured, conducting emergency blood transfusions amid the rubble. Other injured passengers were airlifted to hospital.

Fire crews worked painstakingly so as not to disturb the shards of metal which lay on top of the injured passengers.

By nightfall, the rescue operation had taken over the town of Eschede, with the scene of the accident floodlit, and cranes on hand to remove the wreckage.