KIEV: Forty people were killed Tuesday when a train smashed into a passenger bus in the region of Dnipropetrovsk in central Ukraine, the ministry of interior said.

Another 11 people were injured in the accident at a unmanned level-crossing, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

President Viktor Yanukovych conveyed his condolences to the relatives of the victims and said a committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kluyev had been set up to investigate the cause and help the families.

A statement on the presidential website said Kluyev had already left for the scene of the tragedy.

“The head of state has ordered law enforcement agencies to carry out a detailed investigation to establish those responsible for the accident,” the statement said.

Traffic police had earlier given a toll of 37.

“The driver of the bus broke traffic laws by driving through a red light before colliding with the train,” a spokeswoman for regional traffic police, Lyudmila Bashmakova, told AFP.

“It’s utter carnage there,” she added.

The spokeswoman said the accident happened at 8:30 am, (0530 GMT).

Bashmakova said the vehicle was an inter-city passenger bus.

The collision took place near the town of Marganets, over 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the main regional city of Dnipropetrovsk and close to the city of Zaporizhia. — AFP