Society

Bus crash kills seven, injures 19 in central China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-18 21:44

The wreckage of a passenger car is lifted from its crash site in Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, central China's Hubei province, December 18, 2009. [Xinhua]

YICHANG, Hubei: At least seven people died and 19 others were injured when a bus crashed through a guard rail and plunged into an 80-meter-deep valley in central China's Hubei Province early Friday.

The accident occurred at about 4:20 a.m. on a highway in the Tujia Autonomous County of Changyang, a local traffic police spokesman said.

Of the 28 people aboard the vehicle, three died at the scene and four died en route to or in hospital, the spokesman said.

All 19 injured were being treated at a hospital in Changyang, and their conditions were not immediately known, he said.

Only two people escaped unharmed.

More than 100 local officials and residents had participated in the rescue operation, he said.

Local police and work safety authorities were investigating the cause the accident, he added.