2 railroad workers killed in Germany after train strikes them

A passenger train struck a group of workers on the tracks outside of the German city of Cologne late Thursday morning, killing two of the workmen.

Five other workers witnessed the fatal crash and, although physically unharmed, were left in shock after the deaths of their colleagues, according to police.

The crew had been working on the rail line on behalf of Deutsche Bahn, the German national rail service, according to police. It remained unclear why the workers were on the tracks as the train approached.

By Thursday afternoon, dozens of grieving relatives and others had gathered at the site of the fatal collision near the town of Hürth in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, just to the south-west of Cologne.

Some broke down in tears as police led them around the crash site.

The men were fatally struck by an Intercity (IC) 2005 train en route from the northern port city of Emden in Lower Saxony to Koblenz to the south-east of Cologne and Bonn, according to Deutsche Bahn.

"Our thoughts are with the deceased, injured and their relatives," a spokesman for the railway said.

At about 11 am (0900 GMT), the train hit the workers on an open track near the village of Fischenich to the south of Hürth, the police spokesman said. The train was travelling at a speed of 160 kilometres per hour at the time of the crash. The two workers killed in the accident died immediately, according to police.

There were about 50 passengers on the train at the time, according to the railway, and they were held on board for several hours after the accident. The passengers were eventually evacuated from the train on Thursday afternoon and taken onwards by bus.

Chaplains arrived to offer assistance to relatives of the victims who gathered at the scene as well as to those on board the train.

The accident happened on the open tracks within sight of a cluster of high-rise buildings surrounded by farms and fields.

The fire brigade and police were deployed in large numbers, and a helicopter circled over the scene of the accident as investigators scoured the scene for clues.

The railway line was closed between Cologne and Bonn, resulting in cancellations and delays for a number of trains. Some long-distance trains were diverted to the other bank of the Rhine River.

State leaders, including North Rhine Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wüst, expressed their condolences to the relatives and thanked the emergency services at the accident site.

"My thoughts are with the relatives of the deceased and their colleagues who had to witness this terrible tragedy," Wüst wrote on Twitter.