Six killed as shortcut minibus falls through river ice

An overcrowded minibus fell through ice after the driver took a shortcut across a frozen river, killing six passengers and injuring the other nine people on board, Russian emergency officials said today.

The minibus was carrying workers to Moscow late yesterday when the driver decided to cross the frozen Oka River in the Nizhny Novgorod region, about 250 miles east of the capital, said Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Irina Andriyanova.

State-run television networks reported that the driver, who survived and was being questioned, avoided taking a car ferry to save money. The eight passengers who survived were in hospital suffering from hypothermia, Andriyanova said.

The Rossiya channel said the Russian-made Gazel minibus was supposed to carry a maximum of seven passengers, and that the packed vehicle plunged through the ice when it drew even with a car travelling in the opposite direction.

Gazels are widely used by private companies that run them along municipal and commuter bus routes as well as on intercity trips, and deadly accidents involving the vehicles – often overcrowded – have raised concerns about their safety.