9 killed, 212 hurt in Buenos Aires bus-train crash

At least 9 people are dead and 212 wounded after an accident involving a bus and two trains in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Tuesday.

The Associated Press reports that the bus was trying to speed across the tracks when it was hit.

The force of the arriving train reduced the bus to a fraction of its width as it became wedged against the station platform in the densely populated Flores neighborhood. The front of the train then slammed into another train that was preparing to leave in the opposite direction. Video of the crash shows the bus driving around a partially lowered barrier despite flashing lights that warned of the oncoming train.

Emergency workers raced to free people from the wreckage, and helicopters were brought in to take the injured to several hospitals in the city.

"There are people in the hospital now in a very grave state, including children. They have severe injuries," Fernando Sostre, spokesman for the Argentine Federal Police, told CNN.

According to CNN, the exact cause of the collision is being investigated.

"The railroad crossing bar was working fine," Juan Pablo Schiavi, Argentina's transportation secretary, said.

But local media outlets broadcast surveillance footage from nearby showing "the crossing bar up at a 45-degree angle as the train strikes the bus."

The AP reports that, as in much of Buenos Aires, the buildings are so close to the tracks where the incident occurred that drivers have a hard time seeing approaching trains. 440 people and 165 vehicles were hit by trains in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area in 2010, resulting in 269 deaths.