At least 4 dead and 23 injured when high-speed passenger train hauls 300 plows into freight cars in Czech Republic

FOUR people have died and 23 others have been injured after a horror train collision in the Czech Republic.

A passenger train carrying 300 people collided head-on with a freight train on Wednesday night on the outskirts of Prague.

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The high-speed train collided with a 21-car freight train traveling from Prague last night.

Footage from the scene showed the yellow RegioJet train crumpled on the tracks of a main railway route.

Hordes of emergency services gathered at the scene in Pardubice, a town 100 kilometers east of the capital.

Dramatic footage showed firefighters steadying themselves and excavating the wreckage.

Czech police said this morning that a criminal investigation had been opened into suspicions of “public danger due to negligence”.

Helicopters, ambulances and firefighters were all involved in the emergency response.

The road where the trains crashed serves as the Czech Republic’s main railway line, connecting the capital to the rest of the country.

The horrific accident happened at around 11pm on Wednesday as the train was traveling overnight from Prague to Kosice, a city in Slovakia.

Czech Minister Vit Rakusan said none of the injured were in a life-threatening condition.

But three of the dozens of injured suffered more serious injuries, Reuters reports.

The four dead have not yet been identified.

Czech channel iDNES said children were among those injured in the accident.

Transport Minister Martin Kupka said the road was closed while authorities investigated the collision.

He said: “We cannot and will not speculate on the cause of the accident.”

State railway giant Czech Railways said it would likely be closed for a minimum of 24 hours “due to the extent of the accident”.

Detectives were sent to the scene along with eight other investigators, iDNES reports.

Czech police officers said on X last night: “A passenger and freight train collided in Pardubice.

“All IZS units are working at the site, a trauma plan has been announced, there are a large number of injured people at the site, we cannot even rule out the dead.”