Several killed, 60 injured in Poland train crash

WARSAW - The Associated Press

File photo shows a train derailed in Poland in Aug 2011. REUTERS photo

Two trains collided in southern Poland on Saturday evening, an accident that has apparently killed several people, injured around 60 and appears to be one of the worst rail disasters in the country in recent years, a government minister said.

Polish media broadcast images of white and green train cars that are warped and appeared to be knocked off their tracks. The cause of the collision was not immediately clear, but it occurred north of Krakow in the small town of Szczekociny.

One of the trains was traveling from Warsaw to Krakow and the other was headed from the eastern city of Przemysl to Warsaw, the news agency PAP reported.

"Everything indicates that this is one of the most serious railway catastrophes of recent years in our country," Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak told the all-news station TVN24 in a phone interview. "There are people who have died, there are many injured people."

It wasn't immediately clear how many people might have died. Emergency officials put the number of injured at around 60, according to reports by TVN24 and the news agency PAP.

Nowak said he was on his way to the site of the accident with Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Dozens of rescue officials and helicopters were deployed to help those injured in the collision.