At least 40 people died today when their bus was hit by a train at a level crossing in Ukraine.

THE Danube river broke through flood defences in southeastern Europe yesterday, driving thousands of people from their homes along its banks in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, officials said.

Emergency crews and volunteers struggled to keep embankments and sand barriers from giving way yesterday amid record flooding along the Danube and its tributaries in northern Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans.

EMERGENCY crews and volunteers yesterday struggled to keep embankments and sand barriers from giving way amid record flooding along the Danube and its tributaries in northern Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans.

Emergency crews and volunteers today struggled to keep embankments and sand barriers from giving way amid record flooding along the Danube and its tributaries in northern Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans.