MOSCOW (AFP) – Five people died and 21 were injured in a bus accident south of Moscow yesterday, Russian authorities said.
The Federal Road Traffic Inspection agency said the crash happened at 5.45am local time in the Ryazan region.
“As a result of the accident five people died. Twenty-one were injured,” the agency said on Telegram, adding that two of the injured were under-age.
It said the injuries were of “various severity”. The agency published photographs of the badly damaged coach, which hit a pillar under a railway bridge. The front of the bus appeared to be entirely crushed.
The driver was among the fatalities, and an Internet website belonging to the Russian Interior Ministry said he could have fallen asleep behind the wheel.
The accident took place on a highway near the village of Voslebovo 270 kilometres south of the capital, the agency said.
