140 injured as passenger train collides with truck at railway crossing in Russia

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – About 140 people were injured on Monday when eight train cars derailed after colliding with a truck at a railway crossing in Russia's Volgograd region.

“Today at 12:35 (0935GMT), on the Gremyachaya-Kotelnikovo section in the Volgograd region, the driver of a KAMAZ truck drove onto a railway crossing and collided with a passing passenger train,” the Russian Railways said on Telegram.

The statement said eight cars of the passenger train heading from Kazan city in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan to Adler town in the Black Sea had been derailed.

Rail traffic on the Gremyachaya-Kotelnikovo railway line has been suspended, it said, adding that emergency services and recovery trains have been dispatched to the scene.

In a later statement, Russian Railways blamed the truck driver for "grossly violating traffic rules" and drove into the crossing.

It said 140 of the total 803 passengers on board suffered abrasions and bruises, and 30 people, including 12 children, have been hospitalized in the nearby town of Kotelnikovo.

Meanwhile, Volgograd's regional administration said on Telegram that Governor Andrey Bocharov had visited the incident site and instructed that the railroad be cleared as soon as possible.