Some reports said the bus driver drove through the crossing's lowered safety barriers when the crash occurred and the train cut the bus in half, while the bus company said the cause of the accident was not clear.

The two drivers of the bus were placed under detention as authorities investigate the accident, police said.

Television pictures showed the train partially derailed and the bus virtually destroyed with part of its roof ripped off.

Most passengers of the train were put on buses bound for the train's destination.

Rescue workers and local residents walk around wreckage at the crossing where a passenger train crashed into an interprovincial bus, in the city of Dolores, Buenos Aires province March 9, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2008)