German police say all survivors of a morning train crash in Bavaria have now been rescued from the wreckage and taken to hospitals for treatment, reports Associated Press news agency. 

Federal police spokesman Rainer Scharf told AP from the scene that crews were still trying to remove one body from one of the two trains involved in the head-on collision.

Eight people have been killed and some 150 injured in the crash that happened at 07:00 (06:00 GMT).

You can watch the German police press conference by clicking on the Live Coverage tab at the top of this page. Due to start very soon.

This image gives a good overview of the crash aftermath - and of the challenges of the site, with a river on one side and dense woodland on the other.

Image source, AFP

BBC Monitoring

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann has told a news conference in Nuremberg that he is "deeply shocked and dismayed that such a rail accident has happened here in Bavaria". 

"The situation at the scene is not easy," he says, but adds that enough rescue workers are now at there.

He says the cause of the crash is still not clear, but that there had previously been no incidents on this stretch of track.

He says train safety has improved hugely in the past 30-40 years. "Such an accident shouldn't really happen anymore." 

Mr Herrmann is travelling to Bad Aibling and will join a news conference there soon, according to Bayerischer Rundfunk.  

Hospitals in Munich are appealing for blood donors to help those injured in the Bad Aibling crash.

Blutspendedienst München, external say there is an increased need for blood and says people can attend mobile clinics to donate. 

The trains collided at high speed police say, according to German TV

The trains' operator say both had partially derailed and are wedged into each other with carriages overturned.

Police say rescue teams are continuing to free people still trapped in the wreckage.

Image source, AP

Image source, EPA

Image source, AFP

Image source, AP

Police are expected to hold a news conference in 15 minutes - at 12:00 local time (11:00 GMT) - and give the latest details of the crash.

We'll keep you updated when it takes place.

BBC Monitoring

Police in Bavaria say the drivers of both trains and two train guards are among the eight people killed in the crash, according to regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Image source, AP

Our main story on the crash lists these previous rail accidents in Germany: 

• January 2011: 10 killed in Saxony-Anhalt when a commuter train collides with a goods train after the driver runs through two signals
• February 2000: Nine dead when an overnight train from Amsterdam to Basel crashes near Cologne
• June 1998: 101 killed when a high-speed train with a broken wheel derails and smashes into a bridge at Eschede in Lower Saxony

Authorities in Rosenheim, a city close to the collision site, are quoted by local media as saying they are cancelling Tuesday's carnival festivities in light of the crash.

German media Rosenheim 24 tweeted this picture. The hastag #Zugunglück is being used a lot on social media for people posting about the crash.

BBC Monitoring

Police are now saying eight people were killed in the Bad Aibling train crash, according to regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Local media had earlier expressed fears more fatalities would be discovered inside the trains.

Image source, AFP

BBC Monitoring

Image source, EPA

Rescuers are having to think on their feet to reach the wooded crash site.

Julian Loewis, a reporter for German broadcaster ARD, says rescue workers are having to be winched down from helicopters to transport the injured.

Dagmar Bohrer-Glas, reporting for Bayerischer Rundfunk, says the helicopters are taking the injured to a meadow near Bad Aibling, where they are picked up by ambulances.

The CSU is the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU.

“We are grieving the victims of the #BadAibling train accident. Our deepest sympathies go to their families and loved ones.”

Image source, AP

The rail operators have been reacting to the crash.

"The accident is a huge shock for us," Bernd Rosenbusch, the head of Bayerische Oberlandbahn - the owner of train company Meridian - is quoted saying by Bavarian regional TV. "We are doing everything possible to help travellers, relatives and staff."

Technical manager Fabian Amini says: “Our thanks go to the emergency services and workers who gave their help so quickly.”

BBC Monitoring

A reporter for Bavarian regional TV near the scene of the rail crash says the two trains collided in a small forest and that the terrain is difficult.

The area nearby is "strewn with pieces of wreckage", but the trains are "not completely destroyed", he adds.

A spokesman for the German Federal Police in Bavaria, Matthias Knott, also confirmed to the Associated Press news agency that the crash took place "in an inaccessible region" and rescue personnel are still in the middle of getting passengers out of the trains.  

Some of the first images of the crash site give an idea of the impact.

Image source, EPA

There is no word yet on what caused the crash on this piece of single track.

But there is a tangled web of ownership and management of services on the commuter line.

These were recently built Meridian trains (operated by the Transdev group) belonging to Bayerische Oberlandbahn (BOB), a privatised train company in southern Bavaria. The company belongs to Veolia, a French company, which took over the route in 2013. Another group, Deutsche Bahn, is responsible for the track.