ANKARA, July 25: Fourteen people were killed and six others were injured on Sunday when a passenger train crashed into a minibus in the western Turkish province of Aydin, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The accident happened as the minibus was passing a level crossing on tracks running from Aydin - the province's main city bearing the same name - to the western coastal city of Izmir, the agency said.

It was not immediately known why the vehicle was on the crossing at the time of the train's passage. All the victims and the injured were the passengers of the minibus. Footage broadcast on the NTV news channel showed officials carrying body bags from the wreckage of the badly damaged minibus stuck on the tracks.

Officials immediately removed the wreckage and opened the railway back to traffic, the NTV news channel said. Sunday's accident came three days after a packed express train on its way from Istanbul to Ankara derailed in the northwestern town of Pamukova, killing 37 people and injuring 81. -AFP