Trains crash head-on in Switzerland; dozens hurt

John Bacon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Raw: Dozens injured in Swiss train crash At least 35 people were injured, five of them seriously, in a head-on collision of two trains in western Switzerland late Monday, police said. (July 29)

Swiss police said at least 35 people were injured Monday evening after two commuter trains collided head-on outside a station in western Switzerland.

The driver of one train was still missing and believed to be inside the wreckage, police spokesman Jean-Christophe Sauterel told the BBC. Five of the injured were listed in serious condition.



Sky News reported that emergency services were on the scene of the crash at Granges-pres-Marnand, about 31 miles southwest of Bern. The trains collided on a track between Payerne and Lausanne.

Sauterel said regional trains travel at little slower than other passenger trains. "The situation could have been much more catastrophic," he said.

Pictures on the website of local daily 24 Heures showed the two regional trains locked together but still on the tracks.

The accident comes just days after a speeding train roared off the tracks in the small Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela, killing 79 people and leaving scores more injured.

The driver of the Spanish train, Francisco Garzon Amo, faces multiple counts of negligent homicide for that country's worst train tragedy in 70 years.

Contributing: Associated Press