AT LEAST 40 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN killed and another 10 injured after a bus was involved in a collision with a train in Ukraine this morning.

The accident happened at a rail crossing in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to AP, at around 8.30am local time.

The minibus apparently ignored a warning signal indicating an oncoming train.

The spokesperson for the regional traffic police, Lyudmila Bashmakova, told Al Jazeera: “The driver of the bus broke traffic laws by driving through a red light before colliding with the train”.

The Kyiv Post reports this afternoon that 41 people have died in the incident, including two children, and a rail investigation into the accident has been launched.

Ukraine’s prime minister Mykola Azarov has ordered a new programme to prevent accidents at railway crossings, saying: “Today’s tragedy at an unmanned crossing demands that the government take comprehensive measures to minimise risks at such places”.

AP reports that Azarov also ordered compensation of £8,000 (€9,160)  to be paid to the victims’ families.