/ 20 March 2008

Snowstorm causes 100-car pile-up in Czech Republic

About 100 cars collided in a huge pile-up in a heavy snowstorm in the Czech Republic on Thursday, completely blocking its main highway, officials said.

Six people were seriously injured and about 18 others suffered light injuries in accidents on the road from the capital, Prague, to the south-eastern city of Brno, said regional governor Milos Vystrcil.

”The worst situation is on the 100th kilometre in the direction towards Prague. There are about 100 cars [crashed],” he told Czech television.

Hundreds of other cars were stuck in the jam, which closed about 50km of a highway that has been increasingly congested by a growing number of trucks carrying goods between new factories in Eastern Europe and Western European markets.

The national weather institute forecast more heavy snowing and high winds for Friday. — Reuters