Gorakhpur: At least 13 children were killed on the spot and eight others injured this morning when a speeding train rammed into their school bus at an unmanned railway crossing in Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, about 50 km from Gorakhpur, said railways spokesman Ved Prakash.The children, students of Divine Public School, were killed on the spot when the Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train crashed into the van at the unmanned crossing gate at Behpurva, said Prakash.The Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train train was on way to Gorakhpur from Siwan when it crashed into the Divine Public School bus. There were at least 25 passengers, including children who were below the age of 10, in the van, Prakash said. “It was an unmanned level crossing gate at Behpurva, with Gate Mitra (rail volunteer) deployed there. He tried to stop the van but the unfortunate incident happened at unmanned gate 45 near Dudhi station in Banaras division.” An accident relief medical train from Gorakhpur has been dispatched to the site, he added.UP chief minister Adityanath expressed condolence and announced ex gratia compensation of Rs two lakh for the families of the victims and directed the Gorakhpur commissioner to conduct an inquiry into the accident, NDTV quoted principal secretary (information) Awanish Awasthi as saying. Railways minister Piyush Goyal announced compensation of Rs two lakh each for the kin of the deceased.About three years ago, a majority of train accidents were caused due to derailments, followed by accidents at level crossings. Sometime last year, the railway minister had stated that there were about 5,000 unmanned level crossings in India and that they would be removed within the following year.(With PTI inputs)