Pilgrim killed after bus collides with train near St. Petersburg (VIDEO)
A 68-year-old woman has been killed and 16 people injured, including seven in critical condition, after a bus carrying pilgrims collided with a cargo train near St. Petersburg, regional officials reported on Monday.
The bus was transporting 36 passengers to Alexander Svirsky Monastery in Leningrad Region when the accident occurred. The vehicle reportedly entered the tracks in front of an approaching cargo train at a railway crossing while the stop traffic lights were on.
The train driver attempted to brake but a collision was unavoidable, according to the Russian Railways press service. The train stuck the back of the bus, although no wagons were derailed. Two children traveling on the bus were uninjured.
The authorities have launched an investigation.
In December, two people were killed and 45 others injured in Russia’s Murmansk Region when a freight train malfunctioned and collided with a double-decker passenger train carrying 326 passengers.
Last July, 140 people were injured when a passenger train with 813 passengers on board partially derailed after colliding with a truck which had violated traffic rules in the southern Volgograd Region.
