Rescuers reported that a passenger train and bus collided at a railway crossing in southern Slovakia on Thursday, leaving seven persons dead and five injured.
The collision happened close to the southwest town of Nove Zamky shortly after 5:00 p.m. (1500 GMT), according to the CTK news agency.
Vladimira Bahylova, a railway spokesperson, said AFP that the Eurocity train was travelling from Prague to Budapest.
Updating an earlier death toll of six, the Slovakia emergency service announced that “seven people suffered injuries incompatible with life.”
“Five individuals sustained injuries,” it stated on Facebook.
Rescue services spokesperson Petra Klimesova told AFP that the victims needed “immediate medical assistance”.
According to Bahylova, the train’s driver “suffered burns because the locomotive caught on fire”.
She added that the crash happened near a railway crossing with light signals and barriers to protect it.
Afterwards, Matus Sutaj Estok, the interior minister, visited the scene.
He informed the reporters that it was unclear if a human error or a technical one caused the problem.
Video footage showing passengers lugging bags beside a partially burning train was released by the local media, accompanied by a billowing cloud of grey smoke rising into the sky.
Just as the train was leaving the Nove Zamky station, passenger Katarina Molnarova, who captured the footage, told AFP that she “felt and heard a crash and a bang”.
“We were able to disembark after a few minutes… The 43-year-old cosmetician from the southern town of Sturovo stated, “We noticed that the frontal portion of the train was on fire.
“Neither panicking nor yelling were heard… After grabbing our bags, we made our way to the road. I observed pieces of the bus that had been dispersed after collision.”
