A crowded bus that stalled on a level crossing was sliced in two by an intercity train killing at least 21 including three children in an appalling crash in Russia.
Part of the bus was dragged in front of the train engine some 200ft along the track.
Bodies and belongings were strewn by the railway track as shown in horrifying video and pictures from the crash scene in Vladimir region.
The driver of the bus en route from Kazakhstan to Moscow awoke passengers at around 3.35 am and pleaded for men to help him push the vehicle off the level crossing.
‘Those who remained in the bus died. It got literally torn apart,’ said Rita Shlyakhtina, the regional governor’s spokesperson
The driver of the bus en route from Kazakhstan to Moscow awoke passengers at around 3.35 am and pleaded for men to help him push the vehicle off the level crossing
Dozens of passengers pushed the bus but they failed to move it off the tracks before the train came
But he didn’t order all on board to leave immediately.
Dozens of passengers pushed the bus but in vain.
Then a railway crossing attendant at Pokrov station shouted: ‘A train, a train…..’
He sounded an emergency alarm and the express train from St Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod slowed but not enough to avoid appalling carnage.
The regional governor’s press secretary, Rita Shlyakhtina, told RIA that the bus was going around a traffic jam when it arrived at the railroad crossing and stalled.
The bus stalled when it drove onto the railway line and was sliced in two by an intercity train killing at least 21 including three children
Bodies and belongings were strewn by the railway track during the crash
‘People inside the bus were sleeping, there were around 50 of them. The driver shouted and 34 people ran out of the bus to push it. They survived.
‘Those who remained in the bus died. It got literally torn apart,’ she said.
Alexander Kiryukhin, head of Health Department of Vladimir region, told TASS: ‘The survivors are currently in a temporary shelter, they are getting food and psychological help.
‘A separate team is working on identifying bodies.
‘Four of the injured passengers – two men, one five years old boy, one one or two years old girls – were taken to local Petushinskaya district hospital.
‘They are in grave condition.’
Later Interfax cited officials putting the death toll at 21.
The passengers that got off the bus and tried to push it off the tracks survived
Part of the bus was dragged in front of the train engine some 200ft along the track
A Russian Railways spokesman said: ‘A passenger bus was crossing railway lines next to Pokrov train station.
‘The bus stalled as it drove onto the rail lines.
‘The railway crossing attendant immediately signaled an obstruction on the track.
‘The number 60 passenger train driver that was en route from St Petersburg to Nizhny Novgorod used emergency brakes and signaled emergency situation with lights and sirens.
‘The emergency brakes allowed the train to slow down to a minimal speed, but the distance was too short to allow a complete stop.’
The bus was believed to be carrying Uzbek nationals – workers in Russian, and their families.
There were two drivers, both Kazakh citizens.