Two people died and more than 40 others were injured when a fast train from Munich collided with a commuter passenger train in the Czech Republic.

Five seriously injured people were taken to hospital by helicopter and seven others required surgery.

Another 31 people were injured in the crash near the western Czech town of Domazlice, the regional rescue service said.

Footage on Czech Television showed the damaged driver's cabin of the fast train's locomotive, as well as the front part of the local train.

Both trains remained upright on or close to the tracks.

Czech Railways said an international high-speed train that connects the western city of Plzen with Munich in Germany and a local passenger train were involved in the collision.

CTK news agency said the emergency services deployed four helicopters to the scene of the crash, which happened shortly after 8am local time near the village of Milavce, which is 140km (87 miles) southwest of Prague.

Commander Jaroslav Hrdlicka, of the regional fire department, told Czech Television rescue workers were still looking for one missing person in the wreckage.

Transport minister Karel Havlicek said human error was likely to have caused the crash.

"The situation is serious," he added.