BERLIN - A child was killed and another was seriously injured on Thursday after they were hit by a train along a railway line in the western German town of Recklinghausen, local authorities said.

Police confirmed that several young people had been involved in a train incident, but declined to give further details.

Bild newspaper said the victims were dragged by a freight train for several hundred metres and that the incident occurred between two stations

It is not clear how the incident happened and whether more children were involved.

“It’s horrible. Children and trains and at such a young age; it’s just horrible what happened here and one can only hope the parents will have the strength to overcome this great misfortune,” Mr Herbert Reul, the interior minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, told journalists at the scene.

“Why? How come? These are all questions that no one can yet answer and wouldn’t solve anything,” Mr Reul said.

Local media reports said some 35 firemen and rescue workers were deployed to the site, near a former freight yard. Rescue teams searched the track bed and used drones to look for victims, they added. REUTERS