The accident happened around 5 p.m. local time when a PKP Intercity train traveling from Białystok to Gdynia, with 525 passengers and three crew members aboard, struck the car on a single-track line between the towns of Szczytno and Ełk.
The impact was so severe that the car was thrown about 200 meters from the crossing. No one on the train was injured, according to authorities.
The Warmian-Masurian Fire Department confirmed that all five people in the car—three adults and two children—died at the scene. Officials later identified the victims as a 63-year-old man, two women aged 62 and 29, and two children aged six and three.
“The force of the collision was devastating. Despite the rapid response [of the emergency services], there was no chance of survival for the passengers in the car,” said Grzegorz Różański, spokesman for the Warmian-Masurian Fire Department.
The reason for the accident remains unknown.
Following the crash, authorities suspended train services between Pisz and Spychowo to facilitate rescue operations and organize alternative transport.
PKP Intercity spokeswoman Anna Zakrzewska acknowledged that arranging substitute buses posed a challenge due to the timing. “This happened on the final day of a long weekend, making it difficult to arrange quick transport for our passengers,” she said.
By Monday morning, normal rail services had resumed with a speed restriction of 50 km/h in the vicinity of the accident pending further inspection of the tracks.
