Ten die in Czech train crash

A train crashed into a collapsed bridge in the Czech Republic killing at least 10 people and injuring about 100.

An express train crashed into a collapsed bridge in the Czech Republic today killing at least 10 people and injuring about 100 more, police said. The accident happened this morning near the northeastern town of Studenka as the train travelled from the Polish city of Krakow to Prague, said a police spokeswoman, Miroslava Michalkova-Salkova. "It's horrible. It's a disaster. According to information to hand, there are at least 10 dead," she said. "All the rescue services have been mobilised."

A Czech railways spokesman said the train was travelling at 140 kilometres an hour when it hit part of a road bridge which had fallen on to the track. "It probably hit part of a motorway bridge under construction which fell on to the track," said the spokesman, Jan Kucera. The locomotive and three passenger carriages were derailed. "There's a lot of damage," he said. However a fire brigade spokesman quoted by the Czech national television CT said the bridge collapsed on to the leading carriages of the train as it was passing underneath.

Sixteen fire brigade units with 30 vehicles had been sent to the scene, along with ambulances and helicopters to ferry the injured to local hospitals. CT said there were about 400 people aboard the train, including a large number of young music-lovers on their way to a festival in the central town of Pardubice. *AFP