Crash driver faces questioning

The driver of the minibus has been in intensive care since the crash

Police are hoping they will soon be able speak to the driver of a minibus which was hit by a high-speed train, killing three foreign agricultural workers.

The accident happened on a private crossing on farmland two miles west of Evesham, Worcestershire, on 7 July when the minibus collided with a train travelling from Hereford to London.

The men who died have been named as Soran Karim, a 23-year-old Iraqi, Satish Kumar, 28, from India, and Islam Uddin Ahmed, 46, from Bangladesh.

Detective Inspector Hugh Jones said officers are hoping to speak to the man who was thought to have been driving the bus after he was brought out of intensive care in hospital in Worcester on Wednesday.

Unmanned crossing

An inquest into the death of the men, who had been hired by a Birmingham agency to work at the farm where the private crossing is situated, is expected to open on Thursday.

Mr Jones said all three men were thought to have been living in Birmingham.

The minibus, carrying nine foreign workers, was travelling over the crossing at 0824 BST when it collided with the 0703 BST First Great Western service from Hereford to London.

The vehicle came to rest around 25 feet away with its front ripped off.

Six of the minibus passengers were injured - three seriously - while one passenger on the train was slightly hurt.

The crossing is one of around 1,600 in Britain that are not manned.

People using them are supposed to telephone signallers to check whether it is safe to cross.

Police said no call had been received by signalmen at the time of the crash.

There have been two near-misses in the same place in the last eight years.