Six people have died and more than forty are reported injured in a train crash in the eastern part of the Czech Republic.
The accident happened at approximately 10:30 am on Friday, some 20 km south of the city of Ostrava, when a Prague-bound Eurocity train from Krakow, in Poland, hit fallen debris from an overhead bridge which had collapsed onto the railway tracks.
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A fatal 10-minute delay of the Eurocity train EC 108 Comenius from Krakow to Prague was the indirect cause of one of the worst train accidents in the country’s recent history. As the express train approached a section of the railway line near the town of Studénka, in northern Moravia, the train driver saw parts of an overhead bridge sway and collapse before his eyes. At the time he could only pull the brake and lower the train’s speed from 140 km per hour to 120. Even so the train crashed into the debris with immense force. The locomotive and six carriages were derailed, trapping passengers in the wreckage. Six passengers – five Czech women and a Polish man - were killed. More than 40 were injured, among them a number of Poles and two Frenchmen.
Rescue teams from the whole of the North of Moravia immediately set out for the scene, including 19 fire fighters units and hundreds of other rescuers. The police closed roads in the area to allow what has been described as a “continuous line of ambulance vans” to get the injured passengers to hospitals in the region. Several helicopters were used to transport the wounded to hospitals in Ostrava and Olomouc. The hospital in Ostrava announced a temporary blood shortage appealing to the public to donate more blood for the victims.
The region’s governor EvĹľen TošenovskĂ˝ was the first official to arrive at the scene. He told reporters that he had only ever seen a disaster of such proportions in movies. Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, together with Deputy PM Jiřà Čunek, a native of the region, and Transportation Minister Aleš HĹ™ebĂÄŤek also headed for the site of the accident as did two Polish officials Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Health Minister Ewa Kopaczowa.
The bridge which collapsed was undergoing reconstruction that began in April this year, and had reportedly been in a very poor state. The cause of the collapse is not clear and will be subject to thorough investigation by the authorities.
The crash happened on one of the busiest Czech railway lines connecting the country to Poland and Slovakia; train services in the area are expected to face severe delays lasting well into the weekend.
Two emergency phone lines have been set up for the victims’ families: (+420) 974 723 202 and (+420) 974 723 201.
(radio-Prague)
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