Sunday, 4 March 2012

Polish Trains Crashed Producing a Deadly Train Derailment

;Two trains have collided in southern Poland, leaving six people dead, local officials say, and 50 hurt.

The accident occurred on Saturday evening on the Warsaw-Krakow mainline at the small town of Szczekociny, according to Polish TV.

Two express trains, one of which was on the wrong track, collided head-on, a senior railway official said.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk is on his way to the site of the crash, along with three other cabinet ministers.

"This appears to be one of the most serious railway accidents in recent years," Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak told the TVN24 news channel.

"There are fatalities, there are many injured people," he said, as he travelled to the scene with Prime Minister Tusk.

Some passengers remain trapped in the wreckage, police say. Helicopter ambulances from Warsaw and Wroclaw are helping to take the injured to hospitals.
Three coaches are reported to be especially damaged, and the rescue operation is focusing on finding passengers there.

The three coaches were "completely destroyed - like a concertina", one eyewitness told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.

Another passenger estimated that his train was travelling about 120km/h (75 mph), when it started braking very sharply.

No comments:

Post a Comment