Head-on train collision injures 35 in Switzerland

Two trains collided head-on Monday in western Switzerland, injuring 35 passengers, at least five of them seriously, police said. The collision occurred in Granges-pres-Marnand around 7:00 pm (1700 GMT), police said. Late Monday, rescuers had still been unable to reach one of the drivers. Photographs published by Swiss media underlined the force of the crash, with engines of the trains wrecked and wrapped together. The five seriously injured individuals were flown by helicopter or taken by ambulance to a hospital in nearby Payerne and south to the city of Lausanne. The news portal 20minutes.ch said many of the injured were being treated at the scene. One train was bound for Lausanne, some 38 kilometres (24 miles) to the south, while the other was travelling north from the same city. Traffic was interrupted on a stretch of the line which links the cities of Palezieux and Payerne, the Swiss federal railway company said. Investigators were on site to launch an investigation into the causes of the crash, officials said.