18 killed in Moscow accident

Eighteen people have been killed in a truck-bus crash in Moscow, the city's acting vice mayor said.

"It is a horrible accident that occurred through the fault of one irresponsible driver," Xinhua quoted Pyotr Biryukov, who is also chairman of Moscow's Commission for Emergencies and Fire Safety, as saying.

The accident took place in Troitsky district Saturday, when the truck, loaded with crushed stone, ran into the bus while approaching from a small road.

Biryukov said the truck driver, a 46-year-old Armenian, "has six entries on his record of administrative offences for violating traffic rules. He is being questioned".

Nikolai Plavunov, first deputy head of Moscow's health department, said 61 people were injured in the crash, and at least 16 of them were in serious condition.

Biryukov said the truck overturned after the collision and hurled gravel chips into the bus, making it an "ordeal" to retrieve the injured victims and bodies from inside the bus.