After the fatal accident at a level crossing in the Hanover area, investigations are underway. The traffic accident service evaluated the tracks, said a police spokeswoman on Sunday. At first there were no results. Three young people died in the accident: the 22-year-old driver of the accident car and two young women aged 20 and 22.

According to the police, they drove onto the level crossing in Neustadt am Rübenberge on Sunday morning, despite the half barriers being closed, where a regional train on the Hanover-Nienburg route hit the car “at full speed”.

Due to the force of the impact, the car became wedged in the regional train and was dragged along several hundred meters. There were 38 passengers and six railway employees on the train, one passenger was slightly injured when the train slowed down. The train driver was not injured, but was cared for by an emergency chaplain, as the police spokeswoman said.

The railway line was closed for several hours. Long-distance ICE trains between Oldenburg and Hanover were canceled in the meantime, the IC trains between Hanover and Emden were diverted and, according to the railway, were delayed by around half an hour. The railway reopened the route on Sunday morning.