13 dead in Ukraine train accident

At least 13 people were killed and five injured when a commuter train hit a shuttle passenger van at a level crossing in East Ukrainian region of Sumy, the regional prosecutor's press center said on Tuesday (February 4).

An official said the driver of the van which was carrying 18 passengers, ignored the warning sign of an approaching train and tried to cross the railway track when the collision happened.

"A bus that followed the route from Vorozhba to Sumy didn't stop on a red light at a railroad crossing and got hit by train from Vorozhba to Sumy. As we know now, today we have 12 people dead and six are in town of Sumy, they get medical treatment," Victor Chernyavskiy, the first deputy head of the Sumy regional administration said.

One of the injured later died in hospital, raising the number of deaths to 13. Five people, including a child, were in hospital.

Ukraine's Channel 5 showed the crash site with bodies of the van's passenger lying by the tracks.

The crash happened at about 3:35 p.m. local time near Vyry, about 25 kilometers south of Ukraine's border with Russia.

None of the train passengers was injured, the Ukrainian railways said.

The driver of the van was not killed in the accident, regional prosecutor's office said.

Road police said signals on the railroad crossing were working normally, local media reported.

Thursday 06 February 2014

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