FRANKFURT: A train derailment in a wooded area of southwestern Germany that killed three people on Sunday may have been caused by an overflowing sewer, local police and prosecutors said Monday.
“It is believed that heavy rain in the area of the accident caused a sewage shaft to overflow,” Ulm police and Ravensburg prosecutors said in a joint statement.
“The water triggered a landslide on the embankment next to the tracks, which in turn caused the derailment,” they added.
About 100 passengers were aboard the train when the accident occurred at around 6:10 p.m. (1610 GMT) near the town of Riedlingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg state.
Severe storms swept through the region at the time of the accident, according to weather services.
Three people died in the accident, police and prosecutors said, including the train’s driver and a member of staff onboard.
At least 41 people were injured, some of them severely, they added.
Traffic is still suspended on the affected railway line and cleanup work will begin tomorrow, the statement said.
The investigation is still ongoing and there is no indication of any foul play or interference with the line, authorities said.
Overflowing sewer tied to deadly Germany train derailment: authorities
https://arab.news/btf2c
Overflowing sewer tied to deadly Germany train derailment: authorities
- A train derailment in a wooded area of southwestern Germany that killed three people on Sunday may have been caused by an overflowing sewer, local police and prosecutors said Monday
Estonia sentences pro-Russian politician to 14 years for treason
- Roots, who was sentenced to 11 years, had informed Peterson of Russian interest in meeting
- “Estonian law enforcement works tirelessly to ensure Kremlin subversion fails,” Tsahkna posted on X
TALLINN: An Estonian court sentenced pro-Russian politician Aivo Peterson to 14 years in prison for treason, it announced in a press release on Thursday.
The Harju County Court found that Peterson and collaborator Dmitri Roots, both Estonian citizens, “assisted the Russian Federation in the latter’s influence activities against Estonia.”
Roots, who was sentenced to 11 years, had informed Peterson of Russian interest in meeting and cooperating with a political party seeking to shape debate in Estonia, a close Ukrainian ally.
This led to a meeting being planned, which according to the court “would have opened up the possibility of covertly influencing decisions in the Estonian political landscape.”
“Estonian law enforcement works tirelessly to ensure Kremlin subversion fails,” Estonia’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna posted on X in reaction to the ruling.
A former border guard, Peterson co-founded the KOOS (“Together“) party, which called to leave NATO, decrease defense spending and preserve Soviet-era monuments in the formerly occupied republic.
He was never elected to public office but secured significant numbers of votes in national and European elections.
Along with Roots, he was also accused of treason for attempting to establish a civil defense organization — but this was without Russian instructions.
The court additionally found that Peterson took trips organized by Russia to occupied Ukrainian territories.
While there, he recorded videos aiming to encourage “Western and European audiences to stop supporting Ukraine” in support of “Russia’s national interests,” which he posted on social media.
Russia covered Peterson’s trip expenses, and he appeared on several pro-Russian channels as a candidate for the Estonian parliament.
The excursion was coordinated in part by Russian citizen Andrey Andronov, who was also sentenced to 11 years on Thursday.
All three were fined thousands of euros by the court.
They have a right to appeal the ruling within 30 days.
