BRATISLAVA: Seven people were killed and five others injured Thursday when a passenger train and bus collided at a railway crossing in southern Slovakia, rescuers said.
The crash occurred just after 5:00 pm (1500 GMT) near the southwestern town of Nove Zamky, the CTK news agency reported.
Railway spokeswoman Vladimira Bahylova told AFP the Eurocity train had been headed from Prague to Budapest.
“Seven people suffered injuries incompatible with life,“ the Slovak rescue service said, updating a previous toll of six dead.
“Five people were injured,“ it added on Facebook.
Petra Klimesova, a spokeswoman of the rescue services, told AFP the injured required “immediate medical assistance”.
Bahylova said the driver of the train “suffered burns because the locomotive caught on fire”.
She said the collision occurred at a railway crossing that was protected by barriers and was equipped with light signals.
Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok later travelled to the scene of the incident.
He told reporters it was not clear whether the cause was a technical or human failure.
Local media published video footage of passengers carrying luggage alongside a train partially in flames, as thick grey smoke rose to the sky.
Passenger Katarina Molnarova, who recorded the video, told AFP that she “felt and heard a crash and a bang” just as the train left the Nove Zamky station.
“After a couple of minutes we were able to get off… We saw that the frontal part of the train was on fire,“ said the 43-year-old cosmetician from the southern town of Sturovo.
“There was no screaming or panicking… We grabbed our luggage and walked to the road… I saw parts of the bus that had been scattered upon impact.”
