BERLIN -- A regional express train derailed Sunday evening in the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, leaving three people dead and several others seriously injured, local police said.

The accident occurred near the town of Riedlingen when two carriages of the train left the tracks. Local police have established a command center at the scene and deployed a large number of rescue personnel, according to a police statement.

The affected railway line, along with a nearby road, has been closed. The cause of the derailment remains under investigation, the statement added.

The area had been hit by a storm earlier, according to a report by the German Press Agency.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed his condolences following the incident. "We mourn the victims. I express my sympathy to their families," he wrote on the social media platform X.