A train crash in the Czech Republic late Wednesday killed at least four people and injured more than 20 others, according to officials.
A passenger train was bound for Kosice, Slovakia, with roughly 380 passengers on board when it hit a freight train, according to the national Fire and Rescue Service. The crash occurred in Pardubice, a city around 62 miles east of Prague, which is where the passenger train had started its journey.
The freight train was carrying calcium carbide, a caustic, flammable chemical compound used in steel manufacturing, among other things. There was no leakage from the crash, according to the Fire and Rescue Service.
Pictures from the scene appeared to show some of the cars had derailed. Early Thursday, emergency workers were seen helping passengers and their luggage off the train in videos posted by the authorities. Uninjured passengers were taken to Pardubice Station, and children were given stuffed animals.
Martin Kupka, the Czech transport minister, traveled overnight with the interior minister to the site of the crash and expressed his condolences on social media.
Train schedules on the Pardubice line, one of the country’s major railway corridors, are expected to be disrupted through Thursday as authorities investigate the scene. Investigators have not yet offered any theories about the crash’s cause.
RegioJet, a private railway and bus company, is the operator of the passenger train that crashed, according to the authorities.