Accidents on Czech highway leave 40 injured, some in serious condition

A collection of accidents on a stretch of the D6 highway in Czechia involved 14 vehicles and wounded 40 people, leaving five seriously injured, ČTK reports. 

The accidents happened yesterday evening near Lubenec – between Prague and Karlovy Vary – causing traffic to be stopped in both directions. Traffic has been resumed since the early morning.

According to police spokesperson Ilona Gazdošová, 14 vehicles collided at the scene, including two buses (one of which was the popular transport service Flixbus) and two trucks.

"Two people with serious injuries were transported by helicopter," said press spokesperson for the medical rescue service of Ústí nad Labem, Prokop Voleník.

Rescue services from multiple regions attended the scene – including forces from Ústí nad Labem, which has also experienced accidents and casualties.

Firefighters in the Ústí nad Labem area responded to 13 traffic accidents during the afternoon, in which nine people were injured, iDnes writes.

"We appeal to the residents of the Ústí region not to go out or drive onto icy roads if they do not have to go anywhere urgently,” Voleník said.

Elsewhere in the country, 11 accidents were recorded in Liberec and as many as 30 in South Moravia.

Icy conditions were blamed for the crashes yesterday as Czechia faced another day of sub-zero temperatures. Meteorologists had issued a high warning for ice in the Karlovy Vary region, and a lower-degree warning for ice for the rest of the Czech Republic, both of them in effect until midnight.

As much of Czechia faces freezing and windy conditions today – with gusts of up to 70 kilometers per hour expected in North Moravia – meteorologists and rescue services urge caution on Czechia’s roads.