CZECH REPUBLIC:An international express train hit a collapsed bridge at high speed in the Czech Republic yesterday, killing at least seven people and injuring about 70.
The EuroCity train, from the Polish city of Krakow to Prague, crashed at about 140km/h in Studenka, near the northeastern border with Poland.
Officials said six bodies were found in the wreckage and the CTK news agency reported that a seventh person, a Ukrainian, died in hospital. A rescue services spokesman said 13 people were seriously hurt.
The Czech and Polish prime ministers, Mirek Topolanek and Donald Tusk, visited the scene to observe rescue efforts.
Pictures from the scene showed rescuers climbing into mangled green-and-white carriages, which had been thrown off the rails with the locomotive and were tangled in the ruins of the bridge.
"It looks terrible there," said Jan Kucera, one of the railway inspectors. "The carriages are derailed and passengers are trapped." Rescuers said the bridge, which was being rebuilt, apparently collapsed while the train was approaching or passing underneath.
CTK said the driver saw the bridge collapsing, pulled the emergency brake and jumped into the engine compartment, surviving with slight injuries.
Passengers in the rear carriages were the least exposed.
"We went for a beer to the restaurant car, which is in the back," Janusz Recman said. "Suddenly we heard two bangs and everybody flew over the seats."
Studenka is about 350km east of Prague, close to the eastern Czech city of Ostrava and the Polish border. A spokeswoman for Ostrava municipal hospital said ambulances and a helicopter had brought in injured passengers. "All staff have been called into service and we have freed a number of beds to make room," she said. - (Reuters)