The Šakvice train disaster occurred on 24 December 1953 in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). A local train was standing at the Šakvice station near Brno, when the Prague-Bratislava express ran into it, resulting in 103 deaths and a further 83 injured. The Ministry of the Interior said there was gross negligence by a number of railway men who had since been arrested. Other reports said that the express train crew had consumed a number of bottles of wine. Other sources have over 100 or 186 deaths.
This disaster was one of the 20 most serious rail incidents by death toll at the time.
References
The Times (London) 29 December 1953, page 5
^Conly, Geoff & Stewart, Graham: Tragedy on the Track: Tangiwai & other New Zealand Railway Accidents (Wellington NZ, Grantham House, 1986) ISBN978-1-86934-008-7 (page 181; list of 20 most serious rail accidents by deaths to 1953)
