A high-speed passenger train derailed in Croatia on Friday, killing six people and injuring dozens en route to the coastal tourist town of Split, authorities said.

The crash occurred at the height of the tourist season around midday when the tilting train designed to lean into bends on regular tracks flew off the rails just outside Split.

"Six people have been killed," police spokesperson Marina Kraljevic Gudelj told national radio.

Police did not provide any detail on the victims but according to national television those killed included three Croats, two people having both Serb and Spanish nationality and one French national.

Holidaymakers including at least dozen foreigners were among the 55 people who were extracted from the wreckage and rushed to the main hospital in Split, according to national radio.

"Among those seriously injured there was a French woman who underwent a liver operation," doctor Vedran Radonic told national radio.

Six children were among those taken to the Split hospital, the report said.

The cause of the accident was still not known but according to some witnesses it was most likely the failure of the train's braking system.

"At one moment the conductor told us that braking system has failed," passenger Martin Pofek told national television.

Split, located around 400 kilometres south of the capital Zagreb, is built around the ancient palace of Roman emperor Diocletian, making it a popular summer destination for tourists.

Croatian national television said there were some 90 passengers travelling on board the train at the time of the accident.

Inadequate railway system

The broadcaster showed footage of the derailed train on the side of rocky slopes surrounded by rescue teams working to ferry casualties away on helicopters and buses.

Rough terrain made it difficult for paramedics and firefighters to approach the site of the accident, the television report said.

Croatia Railways and the country's transport ministry declined to provide any details on the number of casualties in the accident.

According to reports, 33 people were killed at the same spot in a 1966 rail accident. A train derailed at the same site last year, although that accident caused no casualties.

The reports cited experts as saying that Croatia's railway system is inadequately prepared for the tilting trains due to which most of them are not in use.

Friday's crash was the worst rail disaster in Croatia since 1974, when 152 people were killed in a train that lost control while travelling at high speed on the approach to Zagreb's central railway station.

Croatian President Stipe Mesic, the government as well as the European Commission delegation in the former Yugoslav republic voiced condolences to the families of the victims.

AFP

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