Warsaw: Rescue workers have toiled overnight to pull survivors from the wreckage of a head-on train crash in Szczekociny, southern Poland, which left 14 people dead and sixty injured.
“The death toll in this huge train catastrophe has risen to 14,” Poland’s Interior Minister Jacek Cichocki said, after rushing to the crash site on Sunday.
“It appears there are no more conscious people in the wagons,” Cichocki told reporters at the scene. Sixty people were hospitalised with about half reported to be in a serious condition, rescue officials said. “This is the worst catastrophe in years,” Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters upon his arrival at the gruesome scene. “I’m afraid the death toll will rise to 15,” he added.
Ukrainian nationals were reported to be among the injured, while French and Spanish citizens were also on the trains, but apparently not injured in the crash late yesterday. A total of 350 passengers were travelling on board the two trains which collided head-on at 9:00 pm (2000 GMT) as they were travelling on the same track, according to Poland’s PKP railways. One train was en route to the southern city of Krakow from the capital Warsaw, while the other was travelling to the capital from the south-eastern city of Przemysl. (AFP)
