A serious accident occurred on a railway line in Recklinghausen on Thursday evening. A freight train may have hit several people, a police spokeswoman said. The police initially did not want to provide any further information when asked by the dpa.

According to the fire department, 35 firefighters and rescue workers were deployed. "We searched the track bed," said a spokesman for the fire department. Due to the darkness and the extent of the search area, a drone was used. The accident site is near a former freight yard. Recklinghausen is located in the northern Ruhr area.

According to the "image", the group consists of several young people. Like the "Bild", the West German Broadcasting Corporation (WDR) and the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" (WAZ) also reported that people had been dragged along several hundred meters.

After the train accident, the route between Gladbeck and Recklinghausen main station is closed. There are restrictions on regional traffic on the S9, RE2 and RE42 train lines, said a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn. Long-distance traffic is not affected. The accident happened in Recklinghausen-Ost.