Bus-Train Crash Kills 11 in Argentina

A bus driver who tried to beat a train was killed along with at least 11 passengers in Buenos Aires yesterday. More than 200 others were injured after the driver, ignoring bells and flashing lights, attempted to rush across railroad tracks as a train approached, AP reports. The bus was crushed against a concrete platform by the oncoming train. The first two cars of the train were forced off the tracks, into the path of another train.

A barrier had apparently failed to lower properly, leaving the driver with enough space to make his dash. Collisions with trains are common in the capital, where 440 people and 165 vehicles were hit by trains last year, causing a total of 269 deaths. "It's a cultural problem. There are many people who are accustomed to beating the train," said a railway union leader. (More Buenos Aires stories.)