News

A gas pipeline caught fire around 2 p.m. on Tuesday in Dobrovského Street in Prague’s Holešovice district, with flames spreading to the facade of two residential buildings. Firefighters declared a high-level alert and evacuated people from nearby buildings.

The accident was caused when construction workers damaged a gas pipeline during excavation work, according to the gas distribution company Pražská plynárenská Distribuce.

Firefighters could not extinguish the blaze until the gas supply was shut off because of the risk of an explosion. Gas technicians eventually stopped the leak, and the fire was contained at around 5 p.m.

Traffic in the area was restricted and tram services in the neighbourhood were diverted. Paramedics were also at the scene but reported no injuries.

More than 2,500 Czech citizens remain in countries affected by the current conflict in the Middle East, according to the voluntary travel registration system Drozd. The Czech Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that 2,532 people were registered in the region, about 500 fewer than on Monday.

The largest number, more than 1,300, are in the United Arab Emirates, followed by smaller groups in Oman, Qatar and Israel. The number of registered travellers has been steadily falling since early March, when about 6,700 Czechs were recorded in the region.

The Czech government has so far organised 11 repatriation flights for travellers stranded by disrupted air traffic. The latest plane returned to Prague early on Tuesday morning from Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt.

Earlier flights brought more than 1,500 Czech citizens home, while thousands of others returned on commercial airlines. Authorities are now considering whether to send another evacuation flight to the region.

Czech scientists, in cooperation with colleagues from the University of California, Santa Barbara, have discovered how the bacteria that cause Whooping Cough attach to the human respiratory tract.

Researchers from the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences found the bacteria produce a special protein that allows them to cling firmly to the airways and evade the body’s natural defences. The findings were published in the journal Science.

The discovery comes as Czechia approaches 70 years since regular vaccination against whooping cough began in 1958. The country also saw a major outbreak two years ago, when more than 37,000 cases were reported.

Czech tennis player Kateřina Siniaková defeated defending champion Mirra Andreeva 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 at Indian Wells Open, reaching the tournament’s round of 16 for the first time in her career. The nearly three-hour battle in the California desert saw Siniaková recover after losing the first set and edge a tight tiebreak before sealing the match in the third.

She will next face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina for a place in the quarterfinals. Kateřina Siniaková has lost all four of their previous meetings and is still looking for her first win in the matchup.