43 Die As Train And Bus Collide In Ukraine

A train collided with a stalled bus at a railway crossing in eastern Ukraine Tuesday. Forty-three people were killed and eight others injured as the crowded bus was dragged 300 yards along the tracks.

According to investigators, the bus driver ignored warnings of the approaching train, and the bus got stuck on the railway track as the driver attempted to change gears.

The bus turned into a pile of metal after being hit by the train near Marhanets Town in Dnipropetrovsk. TV footage showed rescue workers pulling out bodies from the wreckage and piling them by the tracks.  

Ukrainian Railways claims that the driver of the train saw the yellow bus approaching the railway crossing from 500 meters away and set off the warning siren, but the bus driver ignored it. The train driver then pulled the emergency brakes, but the train was traveling at 47 miles per hour and couldn't stop in time.

Spokeswoman for police Lyudmila Bolshakova said, "The driver violated traffic rules".

According to railway officials, the bus was carrying passengers from Marhanets to Nikopol, and the majority were on their way to work. Family members of those who died rushed to the site and hugged one another while they cried out in sorrow.

Thirty-year old Dmytro Olyinik, who was among the lucky ones who survived, told that the bus passengers heard the warning siren and starting screaming to stop the driver from crossing the railway track.

Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian President, has declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.