Ammon News - Three people were killed and several others injured when a regional passenger train derailed in a wooded area in southwestern Germany on Sunday, police said.

About 100 passengers were onboard the train when the accident occurred at about 6.10 pm local time near the town of Riedlingen in Baden-Wüerttemberg state.

Contacted by AFP, police initially said four people had been killed before correcting their statement to three victims. Authorities declined to elaborate on the number of injured or how seriously hurt they were.

The German rail operator Deutsche Bahn confirmed several deaths and numerous injured. Two train carriages had derailed “for reasons yet unknown”, it added.

Authorities were currently investigating the circumstances of the accident, the operator said, and traffic had been suspended over a 40km (25-mile) stretch of the route.

German media reported that a landslide might have caused the accident as severe storms swept through the region, according to weather services. The Guardian