15 killed after trains collide in Poland

Two trains collided head-on in southern Poland, killing at least 15 people and injuring 54, in one of the worst rail disasters in the country in recent years.

Both trains were travelling on the same track but towards each other and collided head-on last night, Andrzej Pawlowski, a member of the board of the state railway company PKP, said.

He said one of the trains, which was travelling south from Warsaw to Krakow, should not have been on the track. The other train was heading from the eastern city of Przemysl to Warsaw.

It was not immediately clear how the southbound train ended up on the wrong track.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the accident the “most tragic train catastrophe” in Poland in recent years after visiting the site early today.

Polish media broadcast images of white and green train carriages that were twisted and appeared to be 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 TVN24. “There are people who have died, there are many injured people.”

Mr Nowak spoke as he was travelling to the site with the prime minister.

Dozens of rescue workers and helicopters were sent to help the injured.

PA