A cargo train collided with a large family car and killed 12 people, including 10 children from the same extended family, a hospital morgue official said today.
The estate car was crushed by the train as it attempted to cross a rail crossing in the small town of Sayahiyya, 15 km (10 miles) north of the central city of Hilla yesterday, police said.
A morgue official in Hilla's hospital said six girls and four boys were killed, along with the male driver and a woman passenger. Most of the children were aged between 11 and 12 years old, he said. Police earlier put the death toll at 13, including 12 children.
A police official in the town of Mahaweel, near Hilla, said police were trying to find the driver of the train, who had fled the scene of the accident.
The train had been heading to Baghdad from the southern city of Basra.