It occurred on 6 July 1967 at the village of Langenweddingen, today part of the Sülzetal municipality, on the Magdeburg–Thale railway in the then East Germany when a bilevel train struck a fuel tanker, which exploded as a result of the collision, at a level crossing of Highway 81.

With an official death toll of 94 people, the disaster is considered the most serious accident in the postwar railway history of East Germany.

The sequence of events resulting in the accident started with an overhanging Deutsche Post telegraph cable, which had expanded considerably in the seasonal heat, preventing the complete closure of the crossing gate.

However, heat caused by the fire, with temperatures of as much as 1,000 degrees Celsius, stopped the rescue workers from reaching the victims trapped in the train.

The number of deaths reported by the authorities was 94, including 44 schoolchildren who were at the beginning of their holidays on their way from Magdeburg to a summer camp in the Harz Mountains.

Among the listed victims was teacher Werner Moritz, director of a Polytechnic Secondary School in Rogätz near Magdeburg, who saved the lives of twelve pupils, but was severely burned doing so, and died later in hospital.