Newsdeck

Newsdeck

Munich-Prague train collides with Czech commuter service, three dead

epaselect epa08297211 A man walks on empty Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic, 16 March 2020. The Czech government decided about two-week quarantine in the country on 15 March night and ban from 16 March 2020 entering Czech Republic for all foreigners and Czech people are not allowed travelling abroad due to coronavirus measures. 298 cases of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the Covid-19 disease, have been officially confirmed in Czech Republic.(Photo: EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK)

MILAVCE, Czech Republic, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A Munich-to-Prague express train ran through a stop signal and collided with a local commuter service in the Czech Republic on Wednesday and three people were killed including both train drivers, authorities said.

By Jiri Skacel

Eight passengers were seriously injured and several were taken by helicopter to hospital from the crash site near the western Czech village of Milavce, according to the regional rescue service.

Ten German passengers with lighter injuries were taken by ambulance to hospitals in Germany, a Czech medical service coordinator said. About 50 passengers in all suffered minor injuries not requiring immediate treatment.

A police spokeswoman said the three dead were the drivers of the two trains and a passenger, all of them Czech.

“The Ex 351 went through a signal indicating Stop…and collided with a passenger train,” Transport Minister Karel Havlicek said on Twitter, referring to the express train.

The trains collided shortly after 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) near Milavce, 140 km (85 miles) southwest of the capital Prague.

The fast train struck a local train travelling from Plzen to Domazlice, said a spokesman for Ceske Drahy (Czech Railways) which operates both trains. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Robert Muller Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.