(Adds 7th victim, quote from Polish PM, previous PRAGUE)
By Petr Josek
STUDENKA, Czech Republic, Aug 8 (Reuters) - An international
express train hit a collapsed bridge at high speed in the Czech
Republic on Friday, killing at least seven people and injuring
about 70.
The EuroCity train, from the Polish city of Krakow to
Prague, crashed at about 140 km per hour (87 mph) in Studenka,
near the northeastern border with Poland.
"An international train from Krakow to Prague ran into a
collapsed bridge which fell on the rails," said Czech Railways
spokesman Radek Joklik.
Officials said six bodies were found in the wreckage and the
CTK news agency reported that a seventh person, a Ukrainian,
died in hospital. A rescue services spokesman said 13 people
were seriously hurt.
The Czech and Polish prime ministers, Mirek Topolanek and
Donald Tusk, visited the scene to observe rescue efforts.
"There were many Poles on the train ... and unfortunately,
apparently at least one of the dead is Polish," Topolanek said
on Czech television.
The nationalities of the other five people killed were not
clear.
Pictures from the scene showed rescuers climbing into
mangled green-and-white carriages, which had been thrown off the
rails with the locomotive and were tangled in the ruins of the
bridge.
"It looks terrible there," said Jan Kucera of the Railway
Inspectors. "The carriages are derailed and passengers are
trapped."
Rescuers said the bridge, which was being rebuilt,
apparently collapsed while the train was approaching or passing
underneath.
CTK said the driver saw the bridge collapsing, pulled the
emergency brake and jumped into the engine compartment,
surviving with slight injuries.
Passengers in the rear carriages were the least exposed.
"We went for a beer to the restaurant car, which is in the
back," news website www.idnes.cz quoted Janusz Recman as saying.
"Suddenly we heard two bangs and everybody flew over the seats."
Studenka is about 350 km (220 miles) east of Prague, close
to the eastern Czech city of Ostrava and the Polish border.
A spokeswoman for Ostrava municipal hospital, Anna
Vidisevska, said ambulances and a helicopter had brought in
injured passengers.
"All staff have been called into service and we have freed a
number of beds to make room," she said.
(Additional reporting by Jan Korselt in Prague and Gabriela
Baczynska in Warsaw, writing by Jan Lopatka; editing by editing
by Andrew Dobbie)
