At least four people have died and more than twenty have been injured late this Wednesday in a Head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train in the Czech region of Pardubice, in the center of the Czech Republic.

The collision occurred at the Pardubice station, 108 kilometers east of Prague, between a Regiojet company train with 300 passengers, which was heading towards Slovakia and Ukraine, with another cargo that was transporting calcium carbide. None of the train drivers died in the accident, despite the fact that the crash was head-on, but one of them has been hospitalized, but his condition is not serious.

The governor of Pardubice, Martin Netolicky, has provided the balance of victims through his Facebook profile and has added that among the injured there are people in serious conditionas well as “dozens with minor injuries.”

“The work of the emergency services (ambulance, fire brigade and police) continues at the scene. The rescue is not easy given the situation on the ground. The freight train was carrying calcium carbide and there has been no leak. There is no risk of contamination in the surrounding area,” explained the governor.

All the passengers on the train have already been identified, but no information has been provided on their nationality, although it is estimated that there are numerous Slovaks among them. The railway authority has advised in a statement not to travel by train on Thursday to Pardubice – a city that runs through the main railway link between the capital and the east of the country – or from Pardubice.

The Minister of the Interior, Vit Rakusan, and the Minister of Transport, Martin Kupka, have traveled to the scene “due to the magnitude of the accident.” “Unfortunately, in addition to the injured, The accident also claimed lives.“, Rakusan expressed through his profile on the social network

“The collision of two trains in Pardubice is a great tragedy. We are all thinking about the victims and the injured. My deepest condolences to all those affected,” said Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.