Macedonian Train Derails, Eight Injured

The cause of the accident was a landslide on the tracks near the village of Lukavice, close to the western town of Gostivar.

The landslide prevented the train from moving forward and resulted in a derailment of the locomotive, which belongs to the Macedonian state carrier "Makedonski Zeleznici". However, the passenger cars, carrying some 40 people, remained on the tracks thus preventing a potentially greater disaster.

The injured were quickly hospitalised but were later released, local MIA news agency reported.

The other train passengers were taken to Kicevo by bus.

Teams from Makedonski Zeleznici are now working to reconnect the tracks and expect the affected portion of railway to be ready for use within the next two days.

Due to heavy rains and the sudden melting of the snow in the mountains, a number of landslides have been reported recently across the country.

A large pile of rocks and dirt that toppled onto a regional road left the western town of Debar cut off from the capital for several days. Another landslide cut off the link between the southwestern towns of Resen and Bitola.