Tourist bus overturns in central China, killing 10

[News_Editor]

Tourist bus overturns in central China, killing 10

2011-10-17 04:00:59 GMT+7 (ICT)

YONGSHUN COUNTY, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- Ten people were killed on late Sunday afternoon when a bus carrying tourists overturned on a highway in central China, state-run media reported on early Monday. Dozens more were injured.

The accident happened at around 3.40 p.m. local time when a tourist bus carrying 49 people overturned on a highway in Yongshun County, which is located in Hunan province. It was not immediately clear if the bus was carrying Chinese tourists or foreign tourists.

The state-run Xinhua news agency, citing a government statement, said ten people were killed at the scene while 33 others were rushed to several hospitals in Zhangjiajie City. The six other people on board the bus were not injured.

Other details about the accident were not immediately known.

Roads in China are known to be among the most dangerous in the world with more than 70,000 fatalities in 2009 alone. Many accidents are the result of drivers violating traffic laws, bad road conditions and overloaded vehicles.

The deadliest accident so far this year happened on July 22 when an overcrowded double-decker bus caught fire on a highway in the city of Xinyang in Henan Province, killing 41 people and injuring the only six survivors.

Earlier this month, on October 7, a total of 35 people were killed and 20 others were injured when a passenger bus overturned on an expressway in Tianjin, a metropolis located in northern China, after colliding with a car.

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