A passenger train and a freight train collided in northwestern Hungary on Tuesday evening, leaving one person dead and at least four others injured, Hungary's MTI news agency reported.

 

The accident occurred outside the city of Komarom when the passenger train rear-ended the freight train, causing five cars of the freight train carrying scrap metal to derail and the passenger train's engine to smash into pieces, said the MTI report.

 

The engineer of the passenger train died, while one rail staff member and at least three passengers were injured, said Pal Gyorfi, a spokesman for the government's emergency service, noting the number of the injured could rise.

 

There were only about 20 passengers aboard the train which was traveling between Hungary's Tatabanya and Austria's Vienna when the accident happened.

 

The smashed train engine blocked the Vienna-Budapest rail line.

 

The reason for the accident was still under investigation, said Imre Kavalecz, a spokesman for Hungarian State Railways.

 

The freight train was moving very slowly, at about 15 km per hour, when the passenger train caught up with it.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2007)