After a serious train accident with dozens injured in Slovakia, the police launched investigations into the question of guilt. The announcement was made by Transport Minister Andrej Dolezal, who rushed to the scene of the accident on Saturday night on the TA3 news channel.
On Friday night, a locomotive near the municipality of Strecno in northern Slovakia collided with a passenger train. As a spokesman for the state railway company explained, the locomotive had been called in to tow the passenger train that had broken down. The train was stopped on a confusing part of the route between two tunnels. The collision took place near the Vrutky railway junction, where the inland railway lines to Bratislava and those to the Czech Republic meet.
Slovak Health Minister Vladmir Lengvarsky told TASR news agency that rescuers counted 74 wounded, about half of whom were treated on the spot for minor injuries. According to him, 34 patients needed treatment at one of the hospitals in the region. Fifteen suffered fractures and other injuries that required hospital treatment. But none of the three who were particularly injured were in mortal danger, the minister said.