At least nine people were killed and scores more injured, police say, after two passenger trains collided in the German state of Bavaria.

The head-on crash happened near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 60km (37 miles) south-east of Munich.

The transport minister said the trains had crashed into each other while both travelling at around 100km/h (62mph).

Emergency teams, some winched in by helicopter, worked for hours to free casualties from the wreckage.

What we know
The accident occurred on a single-track route between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen at about 07:00 local time (06:00 GMT)
Officials say the assume both train drivers had no visual contact before the crash as the site is on a bend - and therefore crashed into each other largely without braking
The stretch of line had an automatic braking system designed to halt any train that passed a stop signal. It is not yet known why this failed to stop the crash
Two of the three data recorders or "black boxes" on board the trains have been recovered
In focus: Bavaria's railways

Train crash rescue: As it happened

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Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "dismayed and saddened" by the crash.

Regional police said in a tweet (in German) that nine people had been killed and 100 injured, 50 of them seriously.

The drivers of both trains and two train guards were among those killed, police said.

The trains' operator said both trains had partially derailed and were wedged into each other.

German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who visited the scene, said it was a "horrifying sight".

"The drivers' cabs of both trains are wedged into each other. One side of one train is completely torn open. The other train bored into it," he told a news conference.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told the same conference it was "difficult to comprehend" how such a crash could happen given the amount of investment in railway safety following previous train accidents.

 
Media captionPassenger trains crashed 'without braking'
 
Media captionRace to rescue train crash injured
Image copyrightAFPImage captionBoth trains were partially derailed by the head-on crash
Image copyrightReutersImage captionBoth trains were partially derailed in the crash
Image copyrightEPAImage captionThe collision occurred in a densely wooded region
Bernd Rosenbach, managing director of Bayerische Oberlandbahn, which operates Meridian trains, told reporters: "The accident is a huge shock for us. We are doing everything we can to help the travellers, relatives and workers."

Technical manager Fabian Amini added: "Our thanks go to the emergency services and workers who gave their help so quickly."

Electrical engineer Joe Adediran, who was on the train between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen, said that he had had a "lucky escape".

"At the first station, this train normally has to wait for five minutes or so for the opposite one to arrive. After a while, we started to move on to the next station without waiting for the opposite train," he told the BBC.

Other fatal German train crashes
January 2011: 10 killed in Saxony-Anhalt when commuter train collides with goods train after driver runs through two signals
February 2000: Nine dead when overnight train from Amsterdam to Basel crashes near Cologne
June 1998: 101 killed when a high-speed train with a broken wheel derails and smashes into a bridge at Eschede in Lower Saxony

The scene of the crash is close to the Mangfall river in a hilly and densely wooded region. Casualties were being evacuated by boat and by helicopter.

Several hundred emergency services personnel were at the scene. Rescue teams from nearby Austria were also helping, local media said.

By midday, police said all casualties had been removed from the wreckage.

The Munich blood bank issued an appeal for blood donors on its Facebook page(in German).

Although the trains were carrying commuters, local carnival holidays meant no schoolchildren were on board, according to reports.