LIMA, May 26 (Xinhua) -- At least four people were killed and 36 others injured when a freight train collided with a passenger bus in the predawn hours of Sunday in central Peru, said the Highway Police.
The accident occurred at around 4:30 a.m. local time (0930 GMT) at kilometer 156 of the central highway in La Oroya, a town in central Peru's Junin department, as the bus driver tried to overtake the train, Justo Venero, the head of La Oroya's Highway Police, was quoted by the state-run Andina news agency as saying.
"The deceased have been taken to the central morgue. What I have been able to observe is that they are between 25 and 35 years old. Some of them are still inside (the bus) ... we cannot get them out," Venero said.
The bus, en route from Lima to the city of Huancayo, was operated by a company called Apocalipsis and the train belonged to Ferrocarril Central Andino.
According to the train conductor, the train crashed into the rear of the bus but the fault was with the bus driver because "the signals were visible and the train was running with its lights on."
The freight train has a minimum braking margin of 100 meters, said Venero. ■
