Twelve people were killed Saturday when a local passenger train crashed into a tourist bus in central Slovakia, police said, dpa reported.
The police updated its earlier reports that put the accident's toll at 13 victims after the bus wreck was removed from the tracks, police spokeswoman Maria Faltaniova said.
"The investigator on the spot confirmed that 12 victims were found (at the scene)," Faltaniova told Deusche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The collision took place at around 9 am (0800 GMT) on an "unprotected" railroad crossing near a village of Polomka, the spokeswoman said.
Two helicopters and 10 ambulances rushed to the scene. Twenty bus passengers are hospitalized in nearby towns of Banska Bystrica, Brezno and Revuca, Faltaniova said.
"Several of them underwent a surgery but they are in a stabilized condition," she said, adding that more passengers were injured slightly.
Police would not elaborate on the cause of the investigation, which is under investigation.
Local web site sme.sk said that the bus came to a halt on the level crossing as the driver was shifting gears.
The train, emerging unexpectedly from behind a hill, had no chance to stop on time and rammed into the bus at around 70 kilometres per hour, the report said.
Photographs from the scene showed that the bus was completely crushed in the impact.
The bus was carrying around 36 tourists from a western Slovak town of Banovce nad Bebravou and its vicinity, Faltaniova said.
According to the Sme report, the passengers were heading to mountainous Polomka for a weekend of skiing.
In an extraordinary session on Saturday evening, the Slovak government will declare Sunday a day of national mourning, the interior ministry said.
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