At least 4 people were killed and 26 others were injured, three of them seriously, in a car-vehicle collision. A passenger train and another freight train In the Czech Republic.
The accident happened on Wednesday around 9pm The causes are being investigatedAt Pardubice station, about 100 km from Prague.
Local emergency services spokeswoman Alina Kisiala told television that the passenger train was carrying about 300 people, many of them foreigners. In addition, he carried a freight train chemical substance. Fortunately, according to the authorities, There was no leak.
The disaster forced A The country’s railway corridor connecting Prague with Brno and Ostrava is closedThe second and third cities in the country, respectively.
60 firefighters, two helicopters and nine ambulances were mobilized to the scene. Emergency services worked through the night in a The rescue was not easy. “Rescue work was complicated by the deformation of the first vehicle. One of the firefighters, Pavel Bear, told the press that this made it difficult to rescue the injured.
None of the drivers were killedAlthough the collision was head-on. Although one of the drivers was hospitalized, none of the three were seriously injured, according to the Minister of Interior. Vit Rakosanwho added that Most injuries are minor Uninfected passengers were temporarily accommodated at Pardubice station.
All passengers on the train were identified. But although data on nationalities is not provided, it is estimated that many of them are Slovaks.
The train is heading to Ukraine
The affected Regiojet passenger train was connected Prague with the Ukrainian city of Chubon the border with Slovakia.
According to official timetables, the flight left Prague on Wednesday at 19.52; It was scheduled to depart Pardubice at 20.47, and is expected to arrive in Chub at 08.35 on Thursday, after crossing Slovakia from west to east.
Loading freight train Calcium carbideFire department spokeswoman Vendula Horakova told state television. It is an industrial product used to make acetylene, a hydrocarbon often used as a welding fuel. Collision It did not cause any leakage of the material, Which, when in contact with water, release flammable gases It ignites spontaneously.
Pardubice was already the scene of the worst railway accident in the country’s history, In 1960; 118 people died and 100 were injured in the collision In front of me between two commuter trains north of the city.
Recalling this incident, the Czech Prime Minister, peter fiala, He described the current disaster as a “great ordeal” and – through the X Network – offered his condolences to the victims.
In a statement, the Railway Authority advised against traveling to Pardubice during Thursday. While the causes of the accident are being investigated, Transport Minister Martin Kupka announced that “we cannot speculate.”
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