The wreckage of a passenger bus is seen after it was hit by a train at a crossing near the town of Pokrov, in Vladimir region, Russia, October 6, 2017.

MOSCOW, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- A passenger bus collided with a train in a serious traffic accident taking place in Vladimir region east of Moscow on Friday, killing at least 19 people, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.

"At the railway crossing near the Pokrov station in the Petushinsky district of the Vladimir region, a passenger bus collided with a train travelling between the cities of St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod," it said.

According to the Moscow railway press office, the bus was passing a railway crossing near the Pokrov station at 3:39 a.m. (0039 GMT) in the red light while its engine stalled and collided with the train.

Passengers with various injuries, including minors, have been hospitalized.

All of the dead were aboard the bus and they were foreigners, said the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, without disclosing their nationalities.

Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Anuar Zhainakov said on Facebook that 55 Uzbek citizens and two Kazakh drivers were aboard the bus and one of the drivers was killed.

The Russian Emergencies Ministry said in a statement that it is interacting with Kazakh and Uzbek authorities to deal with the consequences.

More than 90 people and 24 units of equipment were put into the rescue work and the traffic has been restored, the emergencies ministry said.

The Moscow Interregional Investigation Department on Transport of the Russian Investigative Committee has initiated a criminal investigation into the accident for possible violation of road safety rules.

Currently, investigators are inspecting the scene of the collision, said the committee. Forensic medical examinations and other investigative actions are underway to establish all the circumstances of the accident.