At least 16 dead after truck collision in Russia

At least 16 people died and another three were hospitalised after a truck collided with a stationary minibus in Russia’s Ulyanovsk region.

“According to preliminary data, the driver of a heavy goods vehicle did not slow down in good time and hit a stationary minibus,” Ulyanovsk’s interior ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Roadworks at the scene of the accident meant the minibus was waiting in a queue to move. “The minibus was wedged between two lorries,” the ministry said.

Video footage broadcast by the police showed the crumpled husk of what appeared to be the minibus sandwiched between two trucks and emergency service workers inspecting the flattened vehicle.

Russia’s investigative committee opened a criminal investigation, the TASS news agency reported, adding the truck driver was among those killed.

Three other people, two men and a woman, were taken to hospital in a serious condition, Ulyanovsk Governor Alexei Russkikh wrote on Telegram.

Violations of road safety regulations are common in Russia, where several deadly bus accidents have occurred in recent years.

In January, five people were killed and 21 injured in a bus crash in the Ryazan region, 270km (170 miles) south of Moscow.

In December 2019, a bus with 40 passengers on board plunged into a frozen river in the Zabaikalsk region of Siberia, killing 19 people and injuring 21.