100 injured in Russia train, truck collision

At least 100 people were injured on Monday when a passenger train carrying more than 800 passengers collided with a truck at a railway crossing in southern Russia, officials said.

A video published on social media showed parts of what appeared to be the truck scattered on a grassy embankment beside a railway track, where several train carriages lay on their sides.

The train was carrying around 800 passengers between the cities of Kazan and Adler when it collided with the truck at an “unguarded crossing,” the governor of the southern Volgograd region, Andrei Bocharov, said.

“Emergency rescue work is being carried out at the site of the train derailment. Nine carriages derailed. Seven of them overturned. Provisionally, more than 100 people have been injured,” the emergency situations ministry said.

About 30 people were hospitalised, including 15 children, and 22 ambulance crews were dispatched to the scene to treat the injured, the TASS news agency reported.

The country’s Investigative Committee said it had launched a criminal probe into the incident.

Russian Railways, the state-run operator, blamed the driver of the truck for the incident.

“The driver grossly violated traffic rules and drove onto the crossing when the signalling system was functioning properly,” it said.

“The train driver applied emergency brakes but the collision could not be avoided because of the short distance. The train was travelling at 65 kilometres per hour (40 mph),” it added.