Garmisch: The heroes from the train accident report on their experiences
Created: 06/10/2022, 18:30
By: Josef Hornsteiner
When a train derailed near Garmisch-Partenkirchen on June 3, five people died.
Many more are injured, Bundeswehr soldiers prevent worse.
Garmisch – They just wanted to go home and started the weekend.
But everything turned out differently: 30 soldiers were on the train when the train crashed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and became lifesavers.
Garmisch: Bundeswehr soldiers in the wagons when the train derailed
Hold tight.
David Müller cannot do more.
The train hasn't gotten back onto the rails since it began to tilt with violent shaking and vibration.
A short limbo.
Hold on tight before it gets loud and dark.
Müller can still see school children screaming and crashing into the window panes.
"Luckily the glass holds up," he thinks to himself.
The impact comes violently.
Then it's quiet.
The regional train from Mittenwald to Munich derailed near Burgrain.
Müller is one of 30 soldiers from Mountain Brigade 23 who wanted to drive home from their barracks in Mittenwald last Friday (June 3).
At around 12:15 p.m., the wagons derailed in a curve for reasons that are still unclear.
Five people die, 30 are injured, 15 of them seriously.
Lucky in disguise that there are also well-trained mountaineers next to many students.
Bundeswehr soldiers reenact how they provided first aid in the train accident in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
© Josef Hornsteiner
Train accident in Garmisch: Sergeant ran with comrades to the scene of the accident and helped
Meanwhile, Simon Albert is standing at Garmisch-Partenkirchen train station, waiting for the connecting train to Munich to depart.
The main sergeant from Mittenwald is looking forward to the weekend.
But the train doesn't move.
He learns that a train derailed at the Farchanter roundabout.
He immediately grabs his backpack and sees two comrades standing opposite one another.
“Are you coming with me?” There is no hesitation for a second.
Albert flags down a taxi on the street.
The driver should take her to the scene of the accident immediately.
The three don't know what awaits them there.
The traffic is already backing up.
The taxi can only get about 600 meters from the demolished train.
The trio does the rest.
"The sight was unreal," says Albert.
But it immediately clicks in his head: calmly analyze the situation, get an overview, act prudently.
Albert and his comrades support the emergency services: providing first aid, setting up collection points, calming people down – that's what he learned.
also read
Train accident near Garmisch: New findings could relieve the train driver - commemoration on Saturday
Train accident: the clinic wanted to practice “mass casualties” this week – then reality struck
Heavy train accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen - pictures from the scene of the accident
View photo gallery
Train accident in Garmisch: Bundeswehr soldiers become rescuers
Müller opens his eyes after the impact.
He is lying on the window side of the wagon.
He looks down at himself for a moment, is unharmed.
He jumps up, his comrade makes the emergency call.
children cry.
Müller keeps a cool head.
Light falls through a window pane on the floor.
The corporal breaks them down, leads children and adults outside with his comrades.
They hand the luggage to the fire brigade crews.
Outside, they lead the survivors to the assembly point.
When it presses him against the window, he knows that this is not a normal emergency stop.
"As if we'd hit a wall." Everything lasts only seconds.
But to Fabian Schmid they seem like an eternity.
It rumbles, then a boy falls towards him, which the sergeant just manages to catch.
Then the train gets stuck.
Schmid is in the back compartment with some of his comrades.
The regional train between Mittenwald and Munich derailed.
Schmid is one of the 30 Bundeswehr soldiers who wanted to take the train home to Munich on Friday, June 3rd.
After he derailed, they immediately provided vital assistance as first responders.
A week later, Schmid and five other comrades were ready to speak to the local press about what happened on the day of the accident.
Bundeswehr soldiers "do not want to be stylized as heroes"
"We don't want to go into the subject too broadly," says Lieutenant Colonel Bastian Steves, commander of Mountain Battalion 233 in Mittenwald.
They don't want to be stylized as heroes.
For a simple reason: “We are soldiers.
Helping is a matter of course for us.” The intensive training for the protection of Germany paid off, especially on that fateful Friday.
Schmid sees dust rising in front of the windows.
At first he thinks there's a fire.
But when he looks out the window, he immediately sees the fallen wagons.
People scream but calm down when they see the men in uniform.
"There was an immediate trust," says Sergeant Jan Mirgeler, who sits at the front of the first compartment.
He and Schmid serve in Supply Battalion 8.
Train accident in Garmisch: Bundeswehr soldiers give help to shocked passengers
You switch in your head immediately, are no longer on your way to the weekend after work, but are suddenly on the job.
Mirgeler sees a stunned passenger and calmly gives him orders: "Please break the window pane." He reacts immediately and creates an escape route outside.
Chaos reigns in front of the trains.
People are running all over the place, some stepping over lifeless bodies on the ground.
The soldiers help with the evacuation, support the fire brigade and paramedics.
Private Toni Wolf helps the emergency services and his comrades stretch ropes over the fallen train.
Lance Corporal Sven Greiter supplies the first injured with the first aid kits that all soldiers always have with them.
Troop psychologist helps Bundeswehr soldiers after the Garmisch train accident
There are also dead.
Johanna Meuser knows impressions that even the experienced and trained soldiers do not leave untouched.
She is the troop psychologist of Mountain Brigade 23 and since the train accident has looked after those civil servants who were sitting on the train or who came to help as first aiders.
It was a different scenario than during a foreign assignment.
"In crisis areas, the soldiers are mentally prepared for the fact that something can happen at any time," she says.
But not after work on a German train on the way to the weekend.
Immediately after the derailment, Meuser and her colleagues did psychological work.
They checked if the soldiers were in shock, if they drank and ate enough.
The days after, she began to work on it.
"We try to find access to them," says Meuser.
The experience is processed in individual and group discussions in order to heal the mental wounds.
Fortunately, there were only minor physical injuries among the soldiers.