Five killed after train and bus collide in Slovakia

Five people were killed and five injured when a passenger train and bus collided at a railway crossing in southern Slovakia, rescuers said.

The crash occurred just after 5pm local time on Thursday near the south-western town of Nove Zamky, the CTK news agency reported.

Railway spokesman Vladimira Bahylova told AFP the Eurocity train had been headed from Prague to Budapest and that the train driver “suffered burns because the locomotive caught on fire”.

She said the collision occurred at a railway crossing that was protected by barriers and was equipped with light signals.

Petra Klimesova, a spokesman of the rescue services, said the injured required “immediate medical assistance”.

“I am afraid the number of people killed in this accident might grow,” she told AFP.

Local media published video footage of passengers getting off the carriages and carrying luggage alongside the train with the engine at the front in flames, as thick grey smoke rose to the sky.

The train was carrying about 100 passengers, euronews.com reported.

The train driver, a Czech national, escaped with light burns, Czech Railways said, while the other four injured were railway passengers, Sky News said.

Passenger Katarina Molnarova, who recorded the video, told AFP that she “felt and heard a crash and a bang” just as the train left the Nove Zamky station.

“After a couple of minutes we were able to get off... We saw that the front part of the train was on fire,” said the 43-year-old cosmetician from the southern town of Sturovo.

“There was no screaming or panicking... We grabbed our luggage and walked to the road... I saw parts of the bus that had been scattered upon impact.”

Matus Sutaj Estok, the interior minister, and Rastislav Polakovic, the deputy police chief, were on their way to the scene, police said on Facebook.