10 dead in NE China train-bus collision

Ten people have died and 11 others were injured after a cargo train and a passenger bus collided on Monday morning in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the local government said.

The collision occurred at 7:36 a.m. at a railway crossing in Heihe City, the emergency response office of the Heihe municipal government said.

Six people died at the scene and another died on the way to the hospital. Three other injured bus passengers have died in the hospital, and 11 passengers are being treated for minor injuries.

A supervisor in charge of the railway crossing failed to reach the area in time to warn vehicles of the approaching train, a senior railway official in Heihe told Xinhua. The crossing is unguarded but has a supervisor.

The railway safety administration authorities of Harbin, the provincial capital, have dispatched a team to investigate the accident.

All of the victims were passengers on the bus, which belonged to a local public transport company. The bus had a passenger capacity of 33, and was carrying 32 passengers at the time of the collision.

The train, operated by a local railway company in Heihe, has left the scene. The railway line resumed operation at around 11 a.m. Monday.