At least nine people killed after two trains collided in southern Germany

At least 9 people have died, 50 passengers were severely hurt, 100 sustained light injuries, and 2 are still reportedly missing, after two commuter trains collided in southern Germany, police have said.

According to the police, all those alive and trapped in the wreckage have been rescued. The drivers of both trains and two train guards were among those killed, regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk said, quoting police.

The accident occurred shortly after 6:48 am local time , about 60 kilometres (37 miles) southeast of Munich.

The trains belonged to regional transport company Meridian, part of the Transdev group, while state-owned Deutsche Bahn is responsible for the track.

The collision left train carriages fused together and partly derailed, according to a statement from train company Meridian, which described the crash as a "terrible accident."

The crash occurred on the Mangfall Valley Railway, a single-track regional rail line running between the towns of Rosenheim and Holzkirchen, according to Meridian. Roads around the scene have been closed and the railway line is blocked.

MINISTER OF TRANSPORT PRESS CONFERENCE

"I am dismayed and saddened by the serious train accident this morning at Bad Aibling. My sympathy goes out especially to the families of the nine people who have lost their lives", German chancellor Angela Merkel said in a statement

Meanwhile, German Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt, held a press conference in Bad Aibling, and defined the scene as "horrifying sight."

“The drivers' cabs of both trains are wedged into each other. One side of one train is completely torn open," he told the media.

He also explained that “the other train bored into it. Obviously both trains crashed into each other at high velocity. We suspect that both trains were travelling at around 100km/h (62mph)".

The minister confirmed two of three black boxes, which will help to determine the cause of the crash, have already been found, adding that it would be "unhelpful to speculate about the cause while the evidence was been analyzed.”

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the situation was terrible: "this is one of the biggest train accidents in recent German history, especially for us in Bavaria", Herrmann commented.

DIFFICULT RESCUE

Hundreds of fire fighters, emergency services workers and police officers were at the scene, although the forest crash site was difficult to access.

Boats and helicopters were used to transport many of the wounded across Mangfall river, before they were taken to hospital in ambulances.

"This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene," police spokesperson Stefan Sonntag affirmed.

Hours after the crash Munich Blood Donation put out an urgent call for blood donors on its website, saying there was an "acute increased need for life-saving blood products."

"We are still in the middle of the rescue operations, it's too early to talk about possible reasons for the crash now," Federal police spokesman Stefan Brandl said.