Train hits school bus moments after evacuation

BUXTEHUDE, Germany, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A German schoolbus driver is being hailed as a hero after she unloaded 60 children from the vehicle before it was struck by a train.

Video of the Wednesday collision in Buxtehude, near Hamburg, shows the train collide with the bus at a high speed mere moments after the last of the schoolkids exited the vehicle, which had broken down on the tracks.

A police spokesman said the 23-year-old driver evacuated the bus and attempted to contact rail operator Deutsche Bahn, but was unable to get the warning out before the train collided with the disabled bus.

"It would've been much worse if the bus driver hadn't been so quick-witted," the spokesman told newspaper Bild.