Ten dead including child in Ukraine bus accident

Ten people including a child died and another ten were injured when a passenger bus collided with a truck in northwestern Ukraine today, officials said.

The bus was travelling from the capital Kiev to the western city of Rivne when it hit a truck parked on the side of the road in Zhytomyr region in northwestern Ukraine, the state emergency service said.

Ten passengers were hospitalised.

Officials did not say what caused the accident.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expressed his condolences to the victims' families, while local authorities declared Saturday a day of mourning in the Zhytomyr region.

Earlier Friday, five people were killed and another 12 injured in southern Ukraine when a passenger bus collided with a parked vehicle, police said.

All the victims were nationals of neighbouring Belarus.

Blatant disregard for traffic rules and bad roads kill thousands of people in Ukraine every year.

Around 3,500 people died in road accidents in the ex-Soviet country last year.