KAMEDO report no. 79: train accident in Germany, 1998

A train traveling at 200 kilometers per hour carrying 300 passengers crashed into a bridge. At leaset 85 doctors and 1889 persons were involved in the emergency response. A total of 101 persons were killed, 108 were injured, and 87 were transported to a hospital (27 by helicopter; 60 by land ambulance). Eighty percent of the severely injured were trasported to a hosptial within two hours of the crash. Coordination of the activities of the hoards of responders was an issue, as was the lack of a formal organization to provide psychosocial support. Preparedness plans should include management of the dead and for the provision of psychosocial support.