Eight of the injured are foreigners, while all the victims are Croatian nationals.
At least three people have died and 11 have been injured after two trains, one passenger and one freight, have collided on Friday night near the city of Novska, in eastern Croatia. “A passenger train collided with a stopped freight train near Rajic, near Novska, on Friday around 9:30 p.m. (local time), a large number of passengers were injured, who were treated by emergency services,” he said. explained the spokeswoman for the Police of the region, Maja Filipovic, in statements collected by the Croatian public television, the HRT chain.
The three deceased are Croatian citizens and eight of the eleven injured are foreign citizens. The Croatian Civil Protection directorate has announced that medical teams, firefighters, the police and employees of the railway company, among other authorities, have traveled to the accident site.
At midnight, the commander of the Fire Brigade, Marijo Paluh, assured HRT that there were no people trapped on the trains. “The victims were rescued because the (emergency) services responded in time“, he stated.
The Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic, has moved to the scene of the incident, along with the Minister of Health, Vili Beros. Plenkovic has transferred his condolences to the families of the victims, after assuring that later The cause of the accident will be determined.. “We regret the terrible tragedy caused by the train collision near Novska, and I express my condolences to the families of the victims. I would like to thank all the services that provided help and cared for all the injured. The investigation will determine all the circumstances of this train accident,” Plenkovic explained on his Twitter social network account. The prime minister has indicated, in statements to the press, that the families will receive information about the victims through the Red Cross in Novska. In addition, Plenkovic explained that according to the current balance, “none of the eleven victims is in danger.” However, he has added that they do not know if anyone else has died.
The mayor of Novska, Marija Kusmus, has also shown her condolences to the relatives. She, in turn, has thanked the emergency services for her work. “I want to thank all the services that are on the ground and will remain until the facts are established as to why and how this accident occurred,” she said. “From the city, we are available to the families of the injured and deceased passengers,” added the city councilor.