A train from Munich rushes into a regional railcar on its way to Prague.
Three people died in the accident in the south-west of the Czech Republic.
Domazlice - The emergency call comes in shortly after 9 a.m. at the Regensburg Integrated Control Center. Tobias Muhr from the BRK in Cham doesn't have much information. Two trains that collided around 20 kilometers behind the Bavarian-Czech border. Muhr has been with the Red Cross long enough to know that he and his colleagues will be faced with hard work. When the first of the 40 Bavarian rescue workers crossed the border 20 minutes later, it was not yet clear how many dead and injured there were. But when they arrive at the scene of the accident near Domazlice, they quickly realize that the two train drivers could not have survived.
Hardly anything is left of the driver's cabs on the trains.
The Alex train from Munich collided head-on with the passenger train from the Czech Republic.
The train drivers, both Czech nationals, had no chance of surviving this disaster.
A woman from the regional railcar is also killed.
More than 30 other people are injured, some seriously.
Train accident on the Munich - Prague route: Chaos at the scene of the accident - "The situation is serious"
When the Bavarian helpers arrive, there is chaos at the scene of the accident. Some passengers scream, others are in shock. Injured people lie on the train and on the meadow. The BRK forces take care of the passengers on the train from Munich. A high school tour group from the Nuremberg region is also on board. The high school graduates were on their way to Prague. Nine of them have moderate injuries - mostly fractures. One of them is slightly injured. Slightly injured and uninjured passengers are brought from the scene of the accident to a community hall and cared for. The Czech helpers take care of the dead.
The Czech Transport Minister Karel Havlicek also rushes to the scene of the accident.
"The situation is serious," he said on television.
He praised the reaction of the helpers who were quickly on site.
When all the injured in the hospital and the bodies were recovered in the early afternoon, the investigations on the spot had long been underway.
According to initial findings, the Munich – Prague express train initially ignored a slow speed signal and then a stop signal, reports Havlicek.
He then collided with the oncoming multiple unit on the single-track route.
The so-called Regioshark was on the way from the industrial city of Pilsen to Domazlice on the German border.
Train accident on the Munich - Prague route: property damage runs into the millions
The property damage runs into the millions, the route will probably have to be closed for a long time. The Czech Railway Inspectorate has started an investigation that should take months. Accidents happen again and again on Czech railways. The security technology is considered out of date in many places. Only a year ago two trains collided head-on in the Ore Mountains near the German border. Two people died, including a German. As a result, the government in Prague announced a modernization program for the signaling technology. The modern European train control system ETCS has so far only been installed on around 200 kilometers of the route network. It should be available on all main corridor routes by 2025. Wolfgang Pollety, the managing director of the Länderbahn,responded to the train accident with three dead and dozen injured in the Czech Republic. “The pictures we receive from the Czech Republic are terrible. Our thoughts are with the victims of this terrible train accident, ”he said.
For the Bavarian forces, the mission is over in the afternoon.
There is a debriefing back in Cham.
"When you are involved in such missions, you are so adrenaline that you just work," says Muhr.
But it is important to work through the impressions.
But Wednesday also showed how important preparation is.
The Bavarian and Czech rescue workers train large-scale operations together once a year.
"We have also played through a train accident," reports Muhr.
“We have now benefited from this training.”
BY KATRIN WOITSCH AND MICHAEL HEITMANN
By the way: The most important stories from the Free State of Bavaria are now also available in our brand new, regular Bavaria newsletter.