The incident took place in the south of Russia’s second city. Two trains coming from opposite directions suffered what the city emergency services called a “grazing collision” that was still powerful enough to send two giant locomotives and a freight car off the rails, RT reported.

A video purportedly filmed in the aftermath of the collision shows one bulk two-section locomotive folded up almost like a jackknife, while another one is seen bumping up against the twisted rail tracks.

All passenger trains scheduled to run through the area were re-routed to a backup route. The exact cause of the collision is still unknown.

“Unfortunately… I have learned there is one dead due to the crash with another train,” Transport Minister Karel Havlicek told the public broadcaster Czech Television in Prague.

Rescuers said the deceased man was the driver of the passenger train, which was carrying more than 100 passengers.

“He was found lifeless in his wrecked cabin,” the regional rescue service wrote on its website, AFP reported.

Havlicek told Czech Radio later that the driver had most probably ignored a red light.

The accident occurred after 1930 GMT on Tuesday near the town of Cesky Brod, about 30 kilometers east of Prague, on a busy railway connecting the capital with the east of the country.

Havlicek said two people had suffered very serious injuries.

Rescuers said another eight passengers with very serious injuries and 25 with lighter injuries were taken to hospital.

A week ago, two people died and dozens were injured when regional trains crashed in the western Czech Republic.

Several other minor accidents have been reported on Czech railways over the past week.