عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

At Least 19 Dead in Russia Train-Bus Collision

AP file photo: A wounded person stretchered away to an ambulance in Moscow
AP file photo: A wounded person stretchered away to an ambulance in Moscow
TT
TT

At Least 19 Dead in Russia Train-Bus Collision

AP file photo: A wounded person stretchered away to an ambulance in Moscow
AP file photo: A wounded person stretchered away to an ambulance in Moscow

At least 19 people were killed on Friday when a train slammed into a passenger bus that had broken down at a level crossing east of Moscow, regional authorities said Friday.

The accident occurred during the night near the city of Vladimir, some 110 kilometers east of the Russian capital.

"According to the latest information, 19 people have been killed," the head of the regional health service, Alexandre Kiryukhin, told the TASS news agency.

The figure was confirmed by Russia's Investigative Committee which said it had opened an inquiry.

The regional interior ministry said the bus broke down on the level crossing. The train, traveling from the western city of Saint Petersburg to Nijni-Novgorod, east of Moscow, slammed into the bus at 3:29am on Friday.

Footage showed fragments of what was left of the bus strewn across the track. The train itself appeared to have sustained no visible damage.

The bus was carrying migrant workers from Uzbekistan. All of the dead were onboard. 

“There are no victims among the train passengers," the regional interior ministry said.

The foreign ministry of neighboring Kazakhstan said that the two bus drivers, one of whom was killed, were Kazakh nationals. It said that 55 nationals of Uzbekistan were on the bus, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russian news agencies also reported that the bus had a license plate registered in Kazakhstan.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That's why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

- 'Carried out raids' -

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organized by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We've carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We're not arresting general students, only those who vandalized government properties and set them on fire."