Rescuers work at the site of a train accident in Studenka in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, August 8, 2008. At least 6 people were killed and 31 others injured when an EuroCity passenger train ran from Krakow, Poland, to Prague of the Czech Republic derailed in Studenka on Friday.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    PRAGUE, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Seven people were killed and 65 others injured in an accident of the EuroCity passenger train running from Krakow, Poland, to Prague, capital of the Czech Republic on Friday, a local police spokeswoman said.

    According to preliminary information, the accident took place at around 10:30 local time, spokesman Miroslava Michalkova Salkova said. The engine and six passenger carriages were derailed.

    The train crashed into a part of a road bridge, currently under reconstruction, which fell down just before the passing train, the Czech news agency the CTK said.

    Lukas Humpl, spokesman for the Moravian-Silesian rescue service, told CTK the dead were five Czech women and a Polish man. A Ukrainian man died in hospital.

Rescue workers search the site of a train crash near the town of Studenka August 8, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    According to Humpl, 65 people were treated in hospitals, including 11 Poles, two French, and two Slovaks. Some 13 are said to be injured severely.

    The injured have suffered fractures, bleeding, brain and internal injuries. The condition of some of them is very serious, CTK said.

    Zdenek Nytra, head of Moravian-Silesian firefighters, said rescuers have extricated all passengers who survived the accident.

    According to the Czech Interior Ministry, 123 passengers were on the train at the time of the crash.

    The train carried people to the concert of the British heavy metal group Iron Maiden in Prague, CTK said. The train was running at a speed of 140 km per hour at the time of the accident.

Rescue workers search the site of a train crash near the town of Studenka August 8, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "The engine driver said that when he was passing the station at about 135 km per hour, he noticed that the bridge structure swung and started to fall down. He applied the fast brake and hid in the engine room. In about six seconds, the train crashed at a speed of120 km per hour," said Jan Kucera, Rail Inspection deputy general inspector.

    The engine driver suffered a light injury. Another two of the four-member train crew are also among the injured.

    The Czech and Polish prime ministers, Mirek Topolanek and Donald Tusk, as well as some other Czech cabinet ministers arrived on the spot.

    The crash is a disaster of international dimensions, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told journalists.

    He said the cabinet will probably earmark money for the liquidation of the damage, which was estimated at 136 million crowns (about 8.7 million U.S. dollars).

    "After what I saw on the spot when inspecting the wreckage, I believe that the disaster could have been even worse," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said after visiting the site.

    Czech President Vaclav Klaus and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico expressed deep sympathy with the victims and their families.

    The Polish government has offered the Czech Republic an immediate help in rescue works, Polish Health Minister Ewa Kopacz said on TVN24 channel.

    An information phone line 974723201 and 974723202 was established.

    The construction company that built the bridge, ODS-Dopravni stav by Ostrava, is to blame for the crash, the Czech Railways (CD) spokesman Jiri Kubala said.

    The company did not inform the CD about the construction work. Under standard conditions, trains would lower their speed near the bridge, Kubala added.

    The bridge allegedly fell without anybody's intervention and nobody is said to work on it before the crash.

    It seemed the construction company that worked on the road bridge crossing the railway is to blame for the tragic event, Topolanek said.