At least 30 people were killed and 25 injured when a train crashed into a bus at a level crossing in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, officials say.

A spokesman for Indian railways said the accident happened when the bus driver tried to force a safety gate to cross the tracks.

All those killed were on the bus.

"As the train rammed into the bus, it was smashed to pieces and thrown into a neighbouring canal," an official in the Uttar Pradesh state government told Reuters.

Police said the accident happened at about 1300 local time (0930 GMT).

Emergency services rushed to the crash scene in the village of Chandi in Etah district, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the city of Agra.

'Sliced in half'

The express which the bus hit was travelling east from Kanpur, near the state capital, Lucknow, to the town of Kasganj.

Indian railways say the bus was virtually sliced in half by the locomotive.

Many of the injured have been taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Accidents occur frequently on India's vast state-run rail network.

Some 7,000 passenger trains a day operate over more than 100,000 km of track.