Three people were killed and more than 20 injured when two local passenger trains collided in northwestern Denmark this morning, national railways operator DSB said.

The crash, Denmark's worst railway accident in 12 years, happened in the small village of Koelker some 70 km (41 miles) west of the regional capital Aarhus on the Jutland peninsula.

A DSB spokesman said one of the trains had been waiting on a sidetrack at the Koelker station for the other train to pass. For reasons that were not immediately clear, the incoming train ran onto the sidetrack and crashed into the stationary train.

The DSB spokesman declined to say if those killed were passengers or train crew.

Together, the two trains carried around 70 passengers. Both remained on the rails after the collision.

(Reuters)

-- Risteard Mac Thomais (uachtaran@ireland.com), March 02, 2000