FIVE DIE ON LEVEL CROSSING

Five Bolivian immigrants died when the car they were travelling crashed into a train at a level crossing in Hellín, Albacete, on Friday. The deaths of the two men and three women, one of whom was four months pregnant, brought the number of deaths on the Albacete-Cartagena line to 26 since the beginning of last year. They were on their way to work in Jumilla in Murcia and had chosen a less travelled road in order to avoid the Guardia Civil because the driver of the car had a Bolivian driving licence, which is not valid in Spain. None of them had resident's visas. The barrier was down, the lights were on red and the warning signal was sounding when they approached the crossing but the driver decided he had time to go round the barrier, which only closed off his side of the road. Level crossings in rural areas are usually very rudimentary, if they exist at all, and too many drivers seem willing to dice with death. But after Friday's tragedy, the government said it planned to inspect all the crossings and take the necessary steps to make them safe.