Bavaria train crash: At least three killed in German rail accident

At least three people were killed and about 60 injured when a train derailed in Germany's south-eastern state of Bavaria, police say.

The train, which was carrying many students, was heading to Munich when three carriages came off the tracks near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

It is unclear what caused the accident, a police spokesperson said.

Images published by local media show several crumpled train carriages lying on their sides.

Sixteen of the injured were in a serious condition, a spokesperson for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen local authority told reporters.

Six helicopters, including three scrambled from the Austrian region of Tyrol, have been on the scene to assist as rescue efforts continue.

"People are being pulled through the windows," police said. Police say that it cannot be ruled out that a number of students celebrating the beginning of the summer holidays are among those injured.

The accident happened at around 13:15 local time (11:15 GMT), shortly after the train left Garmisch-Partenkirchen for Munich.

Part of the route between Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen has been blocked off and traffic has been diverted, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn says.

A US soldier based at a nearby air base was driving past when the train derailed. He told local media the accident had been "just awful - suddenly the train overturned".

Germany's deadliest rail crash in modern times occurred in 1998 when a high-speed train derailed in Eschede in Lower Saxony, killing 101 people.

The country's most recent fatal crash took place in February, when one person was killed and 14 others were injured in a collision between two trains near Munich.