Sleeper Bus Plunges Into Ravine In Eastern China, Killing 17

[News_Editor]

Sleeper bus plunges into ravine in eastern China, killing 17 < br />

2012-06-21 18:45:55 GMT+7 (ICT)

NINGDE, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- A long-distance sleeper bus plunged into a ravine in eastern China on early Wednesday morning, killing seventeen people and injuring nearly 30 others, local authorities said on Thursday. Heavy rainfall may have contributed to the cause of the incident.

The accident happened at around 2:30 a.m. local time when the bus was traveling on an expressway in Xiapu county of Fujian province. The vehicle is believed to have overturned as it was on a bridge, after which the bus fell more than 50 meters (164 feet) into a ravine below.

A spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety said seventeen people were killed and 28 others were injured, including five people who were seriously injured. He said the bus, which had two decks of beds inside and was designed to carry 45 people, was traveling from the city of Wuxi in Jiangsu province to Xiamen city in Fujian province.

"I was half-asleep when the accident happened. Suddenly I felt I was falling from the sky," survivor Wu Aiquan told the state-run Xinhua news agency. "I heard a big bang, just like an earthquake, when the bus hit the ground. All the window glass was smashed to pieces. People were crying and shouting loudly. I struggled to get out of the bus through a broken window."

Local authorities said the accident happened when the bus was traveling downhill and turning, and heavy rainfall may have contributed to the cause of the accident. Police and transport authorities have launched an investigation into the accident, which involved a bus owned by Xiamen Fangyang Passenger Transport Co. Ltd. in Xiamen.

Roads in China are known to be among the most dangerous in the world with more than 70,000 fatalities and 300,000 injuries a year, according to the country's Public Security Ministry. Many accidents are the result of drivers violating traffic laws, fatigue, poor road conditions and overloaded vehicles.

Earlier this month, four young children were killed and four others were injured when a kindergarten bus caught fire on a road in Zhangyi village near the city of Puyang in Henan province, which is located in central China. The eight-seat minibus, which belonged to the Doucunji Kindergarten, was overloaded as it was carrying thirteen children in addition to the driver.

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