Horror crash kills 18

Updated 22.59 Sun Mar 09 2008
Keywords: crash

A train has crashed into a double-decker bus in Argentina, killing 18 people and injuring about 50.

Witnesses reportedly said the bus driver ignored stop signs at a railway crossing and drove through the lowered safety barriers.

The impact left the train partially derailed and tore the bus in half

Others said the train sounded its horn in warning but the bus failed to stop near the town of Dolores.

The impact left the train partially derailed and tore the bus in half.

The train was travelling from Buenos Aires to the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, while the bus was returning from the Atlantic coast.

Many of the victims were coming back from holidays.

Among the dead were two children and a woman waiting at the crossing on a motorbike at the time of the crash.

The drivers of the train and the bus survived the accident and were held for questioning.

Provincial governor Daniel Scioli called the bus drivers actions "inconceivably imprudent".

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.