Explosionsunfall an der Güterladestation Linden, Linden

 Germany > Lower Saxony > Region Hannover > Hanover

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It is Sunday morning when the catastrophe takes its course. June 22, 1969, slightly cloudy. Shortly after 8 a.m., the fire brigade in Hanover received an emergency call: A goods carriage was on fire in Linden station. The emergency services did not yet know that the train was used to transport ammunition for the Bundeswehr. Car number 35 contained 216 grenades for self-propelled howitzers. The inferno begins a little later, just as the rescue services have arrived: the charge, with a total weight of 15 tons, manages to explode. Twelve people died, including eight firefighters and four federal railway workers. 40 people are injured, fire engines are riddled with splinters. The damage is 40 million Deutschmarks.