AT LEAST seven people were killed and about 30 injured when a train collided with a minibus in the south of Israel.
It is believed that all the dead were ultra-Orthodox passengers on the minibus, and included a pregnant woman and two young children.
For some reason the minibus stopped on the track with a train approaching at full speed.
Ambulances rushed the injured to three local hospitals.
The train driver, Giora Weiss, told Israeli television that he slammed on his brakes when he saw the minivan approaching the crossing at high speed.
However, the train was travelling at 120 kilometres an hour and there was little he could do.
The train slammed into the vehicle, which flew about 100 metres in the air before landing close to the tracks. All that was left of the minibus was a mangled wreck.
No one on the train was seriously hurt.
It is still not clear why the minibus driver drove through the electric barrier. The warning lights and siren were functioning at the time.
A bridge is being constructed at the site where the accident took place to enable road vehicles to drive over the railway tracks, but it is not due to open for a couple of months.
The accident came despite a massive radio and television advertising campaign in recent months with a simple message for drivers not to cross the tracks when a train is approaching.