An emergency services representative stated that an express train collided head-on with a freight train in the Czech city of Pardubice late on Wednesday, resulting in four fatalities and numerous injuries.
“I can confirm that four people suffered injuries incompatible with life,” local emergency spokeswoman Alena Kisiala told broadcaster Czech TV.
The collision happened just before 2100 GMT, close to Pardubice’s main train station, approximately 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Prague’s capital, according to Czech TV.
It also stated that about 300 people, many of them foreigners, were riding the express train.
On social networking platform X, Prime Minister Petr Fiala expressed his sympathies, calling the collision “a great disaster” and adding that “we all think of the victims and the injured.”
Around 1:00 am on Thursday, or 2300 GMT on Wednesday, the ministers of the interior and transportation arrived on the scene.
The bulk of the injuries, according to Interior Minister Vit Rakusan, were minor, and the passengers were taken inside the train station building for evacuation.
The fast train, run by the for-profit Regiojet firm, was en route to Chop, a town in western Ukraine near the Slovakian border.
According to the schedule, the train that left Prague at 1952 GMT was meant to depart at 2047 GMT.
It was expected in Chop at 0835 GMT on Thursday after crossing Slovakia.
Passengers were being herded onto busses close to the Pardubice main station, according to Czech TV footage that revealed at least one of the carriages had derailed.
According to Rakusan, after Regiojet gave the passenger list, police began identifying the people assembled at the train station.
Nine ambulance vans, two helicopters, and more than sixty professional and volunteer firefighters were sent, according to rescuers.
“The first carriage was distorted, making the rescue effort more difficult. Because of this, it was difficult to get to the injured individuals, firefighter Pavel Ber said to reporters on the scene.
Vendula Horakova, a spokeswoman for the local fire brigade, informed Czech TV that calcium carbide was being transported by freight train.
According to Transport Minister Martin Kupka, an investigation into what caused the tragedy is currently underway.
He said that the primary train line that links Prague to Brno, the second-largest city in the Czech Republic, and Ostrava, the third-largest city, will be closed for at least a few hours.
A head-on collision between two passenger trains just north of the city in 1960 resulted in 118 deaths and approximately 100 injuries, making Pardubice the site of the worst railway tragedy in Czech history.
Pardubice was also the scene of the worst-ever Czech railway accident in 1960 when 118 people died and around 100 were injured in a head-on collision of two passenger trains just north of the city.
