12 die in collision between train, bus in Slovakia
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — A train collided with a bus in central Slovakia on Saturday, killing 12 people and injuring 21 others, officials said.
The collision occurred at about 9 a.m. (0800 GMT, 3 a.m. EST) Saturday at a train crossing near the town of Brezno, Health Ministry official Anton Pencer said. The victims were all passengers aboard the bus, which was carrying 35 people from the town of Banovce nad Bebravou to a nearby ski resort, he said.
Pencer said the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
The cause of the crash was under investigation, police spokeswoman Maria Faltaniova told television news station TA3.
The two-carriage train with 15 people aboard derailed and two of its passengers sustained minor injuries, Health Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Cizmarikova said.
Cizmarikova said the death toll was raised to 12 after rescue workers recovered one more body from the demolished bus later Saturday. She said six people were either in critical or very serious condition.
President Ivan Gasparovic expressed his sympathy for the relatives of the victims.
The government planned to declare Sunday a national day of mourning.
A collision between a tourist coach and a train at a level-crossing near Brezno, central Slovakia, has left at least 12 people dead and 20 injured. The accident happened at about 09:00 local time (08:00 UTC) on Saturday morning, when a coach from the western Slovakian town of Bánovce nad Bebravou carrying 36 people to the ski resort of Polomka Bucnik, was struck by a train traveling at full speed at a crossing.

The train, only two cars long, was reported to have derailed, but passengers on it suffered only minor injuries. BBC News reports that there were no rail barriers to stop vehicles, only lights at the crossing.

"All the dead and injured were on the bus. There were only a few passengers on the train and they didn't suffer any serious injuries," said Slovak Railways spokesperson Martina Pavlikova.

Two of the most seriously injured casualties, with spinal injuries, were airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Banská Bystrica, while others were treated locally in Brezno. At least six people remain in serious or critical condition.