By Dominika Maslikowski –
WARSAW — Fifteen people were killed and 54 injured when two trains collided head-on in southern Poland, officials said Sunday as rescue work continued.
“This is the most tragic catastrophe in years,” said Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who arrived at the scene late Saturday night. “We all feel for the victims and for the families of those who died.”
Thirty of those injured in the crash were in a serious condition. Interior Minister Jacek Cichocki had previously put the number of those injured at 60.
Rescue workers were waiting Sunday morning for equipment to arrive to begin lifting the wagons out of the way to free up the tracks and retrieve the last of the 15 bodies.
Some 450 firefighters and 100 police officers had searched the train until 4 am (0300 GMT) Sunday to get the injured out of the wagons. Ambulances and rescue helicopters took the injured to several nearby hospitals.
The crash occurred when a six-wagon train traveling from Przemysl to Warsaw collided with a four-wagon Krakow-bound train that was going in the opposite direction. The second train had been travelling on the wrong tracks, though it was unclear why.
Four out of the total 11 wagons were completely wrecked. Rescue workers had focused on the first three wagons of both trains, which were worst hit.
President Bronislaw Komorowski was due to visit the scene of the crash on Sunday.
