Bus plunges into ravine in southwest China, killing 15

Bus plunges into ravine in southwest China, killing 15

2012-03-13 21:17:22 GMT+7 (ICT)

CHENGDU, China (BNO NEWS) -- Fifteen people were killed on early Tuesday afternoon when a bus plunged into a deep ravine in southwestern China, local police officials told state-run media. Several others were injured.

The accident happened at around 12:30 p.m. local time when the bus, which was carrying a total of 21 people, fell into a 100-meter (328-feet) deep ravine near the Zhegu Mountain in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, located in Sichuan province.

Police told the state-run Xinhua news agency that the bus had departed Chengdu and was on its way to Maerkang county in Sichuan when the accident occurred, killing fifteen of the people on board. Six people survived the accident and were taken to a local hospital for treatment.

The cause of the accident was 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.

In late February, fifteen people were killed when a tourist bus plunged into a ravine along State Highway 207 in the county-level city of Gaoping, which is located in north China's Shanxi province. Nineteen people were injured, eight of them seriously, according to the Chinese government.

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