Three schoolchildren have been killed after their teacher’s car was rammed by a train in Russia.
Two girls and a boy, all aged eight, died when the white Toyota was smashed into and pushed along 550 yards by the train.
School mistress Anna Diring was driving the children home early because another teacher was ill, reports say.
The train’s snowplough smashed into her car at a level crossing in the Naumovo village, in the Altai region.
The children killed in the incident have been named as Polina Dmitrieva, Artyom Barsukov, and Evgeny Tarasov.
Diring, 43, and another pupil named Danil Sorokin, eight, are both in a serious condition in intensive care.
Diring, a mother-of-two, now faces an investigation for improper transport of children in her personal car, and a criminal probe over alleged unsafe driving.
A local resident told Komsomolskaya Pravda, newspaper: "Everybody is crying, it is such a tragedy.”
According to West Siberian Railway, the crash happened at 8:45am.
It is reported that Diring drove onto the rails on a prohibitory signal as the train was approaching.
The train driver applied the emergency brakes but was unable to avoid the collision.
