Freight explosion in Bialystok. Photo: PAPA collision between two freight trains transporting fuel has caused an explosion as well as injuring two people in the north-eastern town of Bialystok.
Media reports that the crash took place around 05.30 CET, when a freight train containing at least one tank car of petrol collided with another train comprised of 10 tank cars full of diesel. One of the tank cars containing petrol blew up as a result of the collision.
The explosion caused the fire to spread to a further seven tank cars, as well as both locomotives.
Two people were injured due to the impact of the explosion, both employees of the PKP state railways, including an engine driver.
Thick smoke and high temperatures are hampering efforts to control the blaze, which also poses a threat to freight trains carrying coal parked at a nearby siding where the explosion happened.
“The situation is dynamic,” Chief Fire Officer Pawel Fratczak told news channel TVP Info, adding that currently the fire does not pose a threat to housing estates situated close to the rail junction where the accident took place.
Around thirty fire rescue units are tackling the fire, with additional forces coming from as far as Lomza, 80 km west of Bialystok.
Train services between Warsaw and Bialystok have been cancelled as a result of the explosion. (jb)