At least three killed when train hits bus in Mississippi

At least three people were killed and dozens were injured on Tuesday when a train slammed into a charter bus carrying about 50 people in Biloxi, Mississippi, local TV station WLOX reported.

Witnesses told the station the bus, which was traveling from Austin, Texas, was stuck on the tracks. Several of the victims were airlifted from the scene.

'I know of at least three that are deceased,” Biloxi Police Chief John Miller told a news conference broadcast by the TV station. He said it appeared as if everybody on the bus suffered some kind of injury.

The train was operated by CSX, he said. Company officials were not immediately available for comment.

'It appears as if we are going to have a number of fatalities from this,” Biloxi city spokesman Vincent Creel told the station.

'We know of three so far. We also know that there are going to be multiple injuries from the incident,” he said

The City of Biloxi said on its Twitter feed: 'Biloxi emergency workers enroute to Main and railway for collision between train and charter bus.” It did not provide any further details.

Live video feed showed the bus standing upright, diagonally on the tracks with the train stopped nearby. There were numerous emergency vehicles on the scene.

The Sun Herald newspaper showed a photo of a triage area set up near the bus. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and Letitia Stein in Tampa; Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)