Four people were reportedly killed and dozens injured Wednesday evening in a head-on collision between two trains in the Czech Republic.
The passenger train was on route to Slovakia and a city in Western Ukraine when it collided with a freight train in the Czech city of Pardubice, Reuters reported.
Approximately 380 passengers were aboard the train, owned by private Czech company RegioJet, when the accident took place, The Associated Press reported. (RELATED: At Least 30 Killed, 60 Injured In Train Derailment Abroad)
At least 2 dead and dozens injured, some critically, after a RegioJet passenger train collided with a freight train in Pardubice, according to a fire dpt spox. The accident occurred on the main railway corridor in #CzechRepublic. Train connects #Slovakia, Kosice and number of… pic.twitter.com/iq8qYS5WPd
— Filip Horký (@FilipHorky) June 5, 2024
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry released a statement confirming two of the passengers killed in the collision were Ukrainian citizens. At the accident site, Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan and Minister for Transport Martin Kupka expressed their condolences to the victims, CT24, a news channel based in the Czech Republic, reported. Injured passengers are not in life-threatening condition, Rakušan said.
The owner of RegioJet, Radim Jančura, said his company would compensate passengers for the accident, AP News reported.
On the same day, June 5, a cargo train killed two adults and a child who were walking on railroad tracks in Fairfax County, Virginia.
In February 2023, a fatal train collision in Greece forced the resignation of the Greek minister for transport. Thousands protested against the lack of safety on Greek railways, which killed 57 people in the accident, reported AP News.
