Fifteen people were killed and 24 others were injured in a train-bus crash in Ukraine on Sunday, the Interfax News Agency quoted the Ukrainian Emergency Situations Ministry as reporting.  

A freight train collided into a passenger bus in the morning at a railway crossing in the Odessa region, Itar-Tass reported.

The negligence of the bus driver was the cause of the crash, according to the regional police.

The bus driver, who remains alive after the collision, said that he should have had time to pass the crossing in front of the speeding train.

The train rammed the bus that got stuck in the tracks and then dragged it for about 500 meters.

(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2004)