Šakvice train collision
Introduction The '''Šakvice train disaster''' occurred on 24 December 1953 in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). A local train was standing at the Šakvice station near Brno, when the Prague-Bratislava express ran into it, resulting in 103 deaths and a further 83 injured. The Ministry of the Interior said there was gross negligence by a number of railway men who had since been arrested. Other reports said that the express train crew had consumed a number of bottles of wine. Other sources have ''over 100'' or ''186 deaths''.This rail accident was one of the 20 most serious rail accidents by death toll to 1953.
References *''The Times'' (London) 29 December 1953, page 5
External links * Paragraph on this and other Christmas accidents