Tour bus falls off bridge in southwestern China, killing 18

[News_Editor]

Tour bus falls off bridge in southwestern China, killing 18

2012-01-06 05:20:31 GMT+7 (ICT)

GUIYANG, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- At least eighteen people were killed on early Wednesday evening when a tour bus fell off a bridge in southwestern China, the government said on Thursday. Dozens more were injured.

The accident happened at around 6.35 p.m. local time on Wednesday when a passenger bus ran off a bridge in Guilding county of Guizhou province, causing it to fall about 9 meters (29.5 feet). It took place on the Lanzhou-Kaikou expressway.

A spokesperson for the State Administration of Work Safety said the death toll stood at 18 as of Thursday, while 38 others were reported to have been injured. The 53-seat bus was carrying a total of 57 people, including four infants, at the time of the accident.

The tour bus, which was registered to the Kaihong Passenger Travel Company in Anhui province, had earlier left the city of Yiwu in Zhejiang Province and was heading toward Xuyong county in Sichuan province.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but police said the driver of the bus was fatigued and was speeding on the icy section of the expressway.

Wednesday's accident marks the week's second deadly accident involving a passenger bus in China. On Tuesday, at least 13 people were killed and 41 others were injured when a coach collided with a heavy-duty truck on the mid-section of Shanghai-Kunming expressway in central Hunan Province.

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.

With the upcoming Chinese New Year and the country's vacation and travel high season, some 2.85 billion people are expected to hit the road across the country. The travel peak is expected to begin on January 8 and last until February 16.

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