[ 2011-07-07 ]

India: '33 dead' as bus hits train at level crossing
At least 33 people are reported dead in India
after a bus carrying a wedding party was struck by
a train at a level crossing in Uttar Pradesh
state.

An express train collided with the bus at an
unmanned level crossing in Patiyali, 250km (160
miles) south of the capital, Delhi.

The bus was returning after a wedding when the
accident happened.

A local journalist said the train dragged the bus
full of passengers up to 500 metres down the
track.

The accident happened at about 0200 (2030 GMT
Wednesday).

The bus, carrying up to 100 wedding guests, had
come to a halt at the crossing after its axle
broke, and it was then hit by the train, local
administrator Selva Kumar told the Associated
press.

People sitting on the roof of the bus were thrown
off and seriously injured while those inside were
crushed, reports the BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi in
Lucknow. No passengers on the train were hurt.

The bride and the groom were travelling in a
separate vehicle and were not among the victims.

Many of the injured have been admitted to a nearby
hospital while efforts are continuing to free
those trapped in the wreckage.

One of the injured told a local journalist that he
had been sitting on the roof of the bus when he
saw the train coming towards them.

He said he tried to warn the driver, who did not
appear to hear him.

TV pictures from the site of the accident showed
policemen carrying bodies on stretchers from the
wreckage of the bus.

Train accidents are common in India, which has one
of the world's busiest rail networks.

Last May over 100 people were killed when a
Mumbai-bound express train jumped off the tracks
into the path of an oncoming goods train in West
Bengal. The tracks had been apparently sabotaged
by Maoist rebels.

And in July, more than 60 people were killed when
a speeding passenger express hit another train
waiting at a station in West Bengal.

Source - BBC

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