Police already believe the incident on Sunday, near Riedlingen, 158 kilometers west of Munich in southwestern Germany, was caused by a landslide triggered by an overflowing drainage shaft that had been overwhelmed by heavy recent rain, but they want to know whether any other factors contributed to it, and whether any protective measures had failed.

A deadly train derailment in southern Germany was likely caused by a sewage spill. Investigators believe a landslide brought on by heavy rainfall likely caused the regional train to derail in southern Germany, killing three people and injuring 41 more.

Several people were killed and many others injured after a passenger train derailed in south-western Germany on Sunday, security sources said. Federal police in Stuttgart, the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg,