35 injured in train accident in Prague

According to police, one of the drivers was given a breathalyzer test, but the railway operator argued that the other driver was probably at fault.

“One of the trains ignored a red light and crashed into a stationary train from behind,” Dusan Gavenda, a spokesman for railway infrastructure company Sprava Zeleznic, told AFP.

The Prague emergency services reported that they had treated 35 patients.

“There were minor and moderate injuries, but no one's life was in danger,” spokeswoman Jana Postova told AFP.

There were “bruises and scratches, but we also recorded some broken bones, including a broken jaw,” she added.

Firefighters said they evacuated about 200 people to another train on X.

According to police, one driver tested positive for alcohol and was taken to a doctor for a blood test.

Czech Railways, the national rail operator, confirmed that its driver had tested positive but said he was unlikely to have caused the accident.

“According to the information available, the accident was not the fault of our train driver, but that does not diminish the finding,” it said on X.

Czech Railways added that it would fire the driver if the blood test confirmed his drunkenness.

The other train was operated by the Czech railway company KZC, according to the Czech news agency CTK.

In the Czech Republic, an EU member state with 10.9 million inhabitants, train accidents are not uncommon.

In June, four people were killed and more than 20 injured in the town of Pardubice, east of Prague, when an express train collided head-on with a freight train.

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