Thirty-five individuals sustained mostly minor injuries during a collision between two passenger trains in Prague on Wednesday morning, according to rescuers and rail companies. Police reported that one of the drivers tested positive for alcohol, although the rail operator contended that the other driver was likely responsible.
"One of the trains disregarded a red light and collided with a stationary train from behind," stated Dusan Gavenda, a spokesperson for the railway infrastructure company Sprava Zeleznic, in an interview with AFP. Prague's emergency services confirmed that they had treated 35 patients. "There were minor and moderate injuries, but no life-threatening conditions," explained spokeswoman Jana Postova. She added that there were "bruises and scratches, and we also noted some fractures, including a jaw fracture."
Firefighters announced on X that they had evacuated approximately 200 people onto another train. Police disclosed that one driver had a positive breathalyzer test result and was subsequently taken to a doctor for a blood test. Czech Railways, the national rail operator, admitted that its driver had tested positive but argued that he probably did not cause the accident. "Based on the available information, the accident was not the fault of our train driver, but this does not diminish the seriousness of the finding," the company stated on X. Czech Railways further added that it would dismiss the driver if the blood test confirmed he was intoxicated. The other train was operated by Czech railway company KZC, according to the Czech news agency CTK.
Train accidents are not uncommon in the Czech Republic, an EU member country with a population of 10.9 million. In June, four people were killed and more than 20 injured when an express train collided head-on with a freight train in the city of Pardubice, east of Prague.
