Fire fighters stand next to an overturned regional passenger train after it collided with a goods train late on late January 29, 2011 in Hordorf, near Magdeburg, eastern Germany. Ten people died and up to 33 other people were seriously injured in the accident which happened. More than 150 firemen, police and rescue workers were at the scene and rail traffic was interrupted. The causes of the accident were not immediately known. – AFP Photo

BERLIN: A head-on train crash in eastern Germany killed 10 people and injured at least 33 others, eight of them severely, local firefighters said Sunday.

A passenger and a cargo train crashed head-on near Hordorf village, close to Saxony-Anhalt’s state capital Magdeburg, and several train cars derailed and overturned, a spokesman for the district’s firefighters said. He declined to be named in line with department policy.

Rescue operations were still under way early Sunday, and police had no immediate information as to what could have caused the accident late Saturday evening, regional police spokesman Frank Kuessner said.

Eight bodies have been retrieved from the passenger train so far and some 35 suffered injuries, he said. Kuessner had no immediate explanation for the differing casualty figures.

“Rescue operations are still ongoing. The death toll may well rise further,” he said.

Saxony-Anhalt’s Deputy Interior Minister Ruediger Erben, who rushed to the scene late Saturday, said the trains must have crashed head-on with high speed, German news agency DAPD reported.

The accident happened about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of Berlin, Germany's capital.