14 killed in Russian bus accident

Fourteen people were killed and four injured when a bus crashed with a truck in Russia's central Vladimir region, emergency ministry officials told AFP Thursday.

The bus and the KAMAZ truck collided some 124 kilometres (77 miles) away from Moscow on the road to Vladimir, and the bus caught fire.

"A total of 14 people were killed -- 13 passengers and the truck's driver," the local emergency situations ministry spokeswoman Lyudmila Martynova told AFP by telephone.

Four of the bus's passengers were hospitalised with serious injuries, she added.

Earlier on Thursday, Russian news agencies reported that the toll went up to 25 people, based on the road police's estimated number of the bus's passengers.

An investigation of the incident was launched.