Czech train crash kills 6

An international express train crashed into a collapsed bridge in the Czech Republic killing at least six people and injuring dozens.

The EuroCity train, travelling from the Polish city of Krakow to the Czech capital, crashed at a speed of about 140 km per hour near the northeast border with Poland.

"An international train from Krakow to Prague ran into a collapsed bridge which fell on the rails in the area of the town of Studenka," said Radek Joklik, Czech Railways spokesman.

He said six people had been killed, fewer than the previously announced toll of 10. A rescue service spokesman said 13 people were seriously hurt.

"There are many injured," said fire brigade officer David Pridal. "There are some dead, but we do not have precise numbers because our people are devoting time to rescue those alive."

Both Krakow and Prague are popular with foreign visitors.

Pictures from the scene showed rescue teams climbing into mangled green and white carriages that had been thrown off the rails and were tangled in the ruins of the bridge.

"It looks terrible there," said Jan Kucera of the Railway Inspectors. "The carriages are derailed and passengers are trapped."

The locomotive and several carriages of the Comenius express were damaged. Rescuers said the bridge, which was being rebuilt, may have collapsed while the train was approaching or passing underneath.

The Czech news agency CTK reported that the train driver saw the bridge under construction swinging down, pulled the emergency brake and jumped into the engine room, surviving with light injuries.

Passengers in the rear carriages were the least exposed.

"We went for a beer to the restaurant car, which is in the back," news website www.idnes.cz quoted Janusz Recman as saying. "Suddenly we heard two bangs and everybody flew over the seats."

Studenka is about 350 km from Prague and close to the eastern Czech city of Ostrava and the Polish border.

A spokesman for the Ostrava municipal hospital said ambulances and a helicopter had begun bringing in injured passengers.

"All staff have been called into service and we have freed a number of beds to make room for the injured," said Anna Vidisevska.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk were on their way to the site.