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.
