At least 22 people were killed and another 14 injured on Thursday when a train carrying cement collided with a passenger bus in central Mexico, police said.

The accident took place at 9:00 AM (15:00 GMT) in the city of Cuatitlan de Romero Rubio, just north of the capital, said Alejandro Alvarez Murrilo, director of transport and public security in the region.

The train's locomotive dragged the bus over 100 meters, gutting the entire vehicle after the bus apparently tried to overtake the 36-wagon train by crossing the tracks, he said.
 
The director said the death toll may rise due to many of the injured being severely hurt.

Bernardino Jarauto Gonzalez, a witness, told Xinhua that he had reached the scene and helped extricate five passengers from the crashed vehicle. He reported seeing a 45-year-old woman with her skull smashed begging for help.

The dead and mutilated bodies of the passengers were strewn on the tracks and trapped inside the vehicle.

Rescuers took the injured to a clinic in the nearby town of Lomas Verdes. The bus driver, who survived the accident, was arrested.

The bus, owned by the Mexico-Melchor Ocampo Auto Transports Company, had been heading for the nearby town of Apaxco.

Jorge Cruz, from Mexico's Ministerial Police, said that five of the dead had been identified and the 14 injured remained in hospital.

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2006)