Trains crash near Vienna leaving four badly hurt

Two trains have collided near Vienna in Austria, leaving four people seriously injured.

The collision happened near the station in Kritzendorf, north of the Austrian capital, just before 5pm GMT yesterday.

Two passenger cars turned over in the collision, while a third was leaning to one side.

The point of impact appeared to be the sides of both trains, which were travelling in the same direction and then derailed. One was regional and the other local.

Infrastructure Minister Norbert Hofer said four people were slightly hurt and another four more seriously injured.

A rescue helicopter took one person to a Vienna hospital with head injuries. Austrian media had earlier put the number of injured at up to 20. “We suspect that the cause is to be found in human error, not in a technical defect, but that will be verified in the coming days,” Mr Hofer said.

The trains were evacuated by shortly after 7.30pm.