A train slammed into a bus Thursday morning in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

At least three people died and 85 others have been injured after a train ran into a stalled bus on Thursday morning in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to the local rescue center.

The bus lost control on a turn at 9:07 a.m. and veered off the road in the regional capital of Urumuqi City. It slid for more than 20 meters on the snow-covered land, coming to a stop on the railroad tracks after crashing through a fence and knocking down an electric pole.

Kurwanaim Mushakim, whose feet were injured in the crash, had barely climbed out of the bus when she saw a train coming toward the fully-loaded bus. "I heard many children crying on the bus." The train jarred the bus, knocking it onto its side.

Minutes before the collision, many people waved hard to get the train to stop, but it was too late, said Ma Shuhua, who runs a restaurant nearby. "Some adults on the bus helped children jump out of the window seconds before the collision," she said.

Witnesses say one barbecue vendor nearby, who rushed to pull students out of the bus, was also injured from the impact.