Steamroller crushes 14 to death

MOSCOW, Russia -- Fourteen people have been killed in central Russia after a steamroller crushed the passenger bus they were travelling in.

The roller fell onto the bus after falling off a transporter lorry, emergency officials said.

One other passenger was taken to hospital in a serious condition after the accident in the Bashkortostan region of the Ural Mountains, Emergencies Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov told The Associated Press.

He said the number of casualties could rise as rescue workers were still struggling to extract bodies from the nearly flattened bus.

He said it was unclear how many passengers were aboard the bus at the time of the accident.

A Kamaz lorry carrying the steamroller was trying to pass the bus on a two-lane road 120 km (70 miles) north of the regional capital Ufa when the roller tipped over and fell on the bus, Beltsov said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.