A total of 79 people were injured, three seriously, in a two-train collision in Slovakia on Sunday night, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday. The two injured people are in life-threatening danger. The collision occurred 20 kilometers from Bratislava between two passenger trains bound for the Slovak capital. There were about 800 people, mostly students, in the two convoys.
This is the second train accident in Slovakia in the past month. On October 13, two high-speed trains collided head-on in the town of Roznava in the southeast of the country, injuring 50 people. Prime Minister Robert Fico will convene an emergency meeting of the government this Monday, after which the adoption of the measures will be reported.
In addition to 60 police officers and 70 firefighters, 15 ambulances took part in the rescue operation. The cause of the accident has not yet been officially announced, but state railway company ZSSK reported that one of the trains ran a red light.
ZSSK general director Ivan Bednarik said: “One of the trains was in a place it shouldn’t have been. We are not going to advance the conclusion of the investigation, but it is clear that the train ran a red light.” The convoy accidentally left the stop and was struck by another train traveling on the same track at 100km/h, Bednarik said.