Six dead, 60 injured, in Poland train collision

TWO trains collided head-on in southern Poland last night, killing at least six people and injuring around 60 in what appears to be one of the worst rail disasters in the country in recent years.

Both trains were travelling on the same track toward each other, according to Andrzej Pawlowski, a member of the board of the state railway company PKP.

One of the trains, which was travelling from Warsaw to Krakow, should not have been on the track. The other train, headed from the eastern city of Przemysl to Warsaw, was on the right track, Pawlowski said.

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Polish media broadcast images of white and green train cars that were twisted and appeared to have been knocked off the tracks.

“Everything indicates that this is one of the most serious railway catastrophes of recent years in our country,” transport minister Slawomir Nowak told the Polish news channel TVN24.

“There are people who have died, there are many injured people.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how many people might have died. About 60 people were badly injured, according to Pawel Fratczak, a spokesman for the local fire service.

Nowak said he was on his way to the site of the accident with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Dozens of rescue officials and helicopters were deployed to help those injured in the collision.

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