17 dead as train hits bus in Bangladesh

(CNN) -- A train slammed into a packed bus at an unmanned railway crossing in central Bangladesh early Wednesday morning, killing 17 people and injuring 25 others.

Railway officials told reporters at the scene that the guard, responsible for lowering the railway crossing arm when trains approach, had fallen asleep on duty about 3 a.m.

The bus was carrying about 50 weavers on their way to sell their wares at a weekly market in the Tangail district, said Mirza Shakil, district correspondent for the newspaper, the Daily Star.

Tangail, located about 50 miles (80 km) north of the capital city of Dhaka, is one of 64 districts that make up the south Asian country.

The bus had made it across the tracks when the express train T-boned it, Shakil said.

Sixteen weavers died at the scene, another at a local hospital. All but two of the remaining passengers were hospitalized.

Transportation officials, surveying the crumpled remains of the bus, said the the guard was nowhere to be found.

The Dhaka-bound train continued on to its destination without stopping after the collision, Shakil said. It sustained no major damage E-mail to a friend