Poland Live Blog

Several people have been killed and at least 50 others injured as two trains crashed head-on in southern Poland, the country's interior minister said.

The accident took place on Saturday night in the town of Szczekociny.

"We have confirmation that several people have been killed and dozens injured," Interior Minister Jacek Cichocki told Polish TVN24 news channel.

Local police told AFP news agency that "about fifty people have been injured."

The head-on collision took place at 2100 hrs local time (2000 GMT) between two trains travelling on the same track, a Polish railways official said.

One was en route to the southern city of Krakow from the capital Warsaw, while the other was travelling to the capital from the south-eastern city of Przemysl.

Initial images of the crash shown on TVN24 showed mangled wreckage.

One survivor told channel they had seen dead bodies and others still alive but pinned down inside the train wrecks.

Injured survivors were being evacuated to hospitals in the region. One officials said 30 survivors were seriously injured.

Firemen were trying to reach people still inside the wreckage after midnight.

"We are trying to reach several people inside the wagons with whom we have established contact," Jaroslaw Wojtasik, a fireman on the scene told TVN24.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak as well as the interior minister were travelling to the site of the accident, according to a government statement.

Poland has urged the National Transitional Council to promote reconciliation after the killing of Muammar Gaddafi.

"Last time I was here there was fighting not very far from Benghazi. Today, Libya is free," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters after a meeting with Abdel Jalil.

"The real challenges begin now ... reconciliation, reintegration and rebuilding" the country, the minister said as he congratulated Abdel Jalil for the "liberation" of Libya.

"We did it 20 years ago. We succeeded and so we are ready to share with you the things we did right and the mistakes we made," he said, referring to the end of communism in Poland.

He said Poland was ready to help in the healthcare sector by providing training and treating those wounded in the fighting, as well as cooperating in the tourism and agriculture sectors.

Poland has welcomed the end of Muammar Gaddafi's rule over Libya.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes the end of a 42-year rule of Col. Gaddafi in Libya," an official statement said. "We are convinced that Colonel Moamer Kadhafi and his closest aides will answer for his crimes in Libya or before the International Criminal Court in The Hague."

"The international community, including the European Union and Poland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council, is ready to provide comprehensive assistance for the Libyan partners and friends in this difficult process."