"This is the worst accident (involving bears) ever," Andrej Primc, spokesman for a hunter's group in the southern town of Ilirska Bistrica, was quoted as saying by the Delo newspaper.

Primc said train accidents involving bears do happen once or twice a year in Sneznik, a region in Slovenia's south where a large number of bears live in the wild, but never involving so many animals at once.

The mother and cubs were apparently walking in a row along the rails when the train came, Delo reported. It said the railway going from Ilirska Bistrica to Pivka, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the north, crosses several routes regularly used by wild animals in the region.

Brown bears live in the wild in Slovenia and their population is estimated to be between 500 and 700, most of them living in Sneznik and in the region of Kocevje, in Slovenia's southeast.

The Slovenian government has agreed to transfer this year five brown bears to France to help ensure the species' survival in the Pyrenees mountains.

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