Eight people died and 45 others were injured when a sleeper
coach veered off a mountain road in central China's Hunan Province on Saturday, local traffic
police confirmed on Sunday.
The double-decker bus carrying 53 people was en route from
Yibin, in southwestern Sichuan Province, to Wenzhou, in eastern Zhejiang Province when the accident occurred
at around 8 AM on No. 209 national highway in Yongshun County.
Eight people died on the spot and among the 45 injured, 20 were
in critical condition, the Changsha Evening News
reports.
Police said the bus was registered in northern Hebei Province and an investigation into the
cause of the accident was underway.
In China, fatigue driving, overloading, speeding and driving by
drunk drivers are the major causes of traffic accidents. Last year,
89,455 people were killed in 378,781 traffic accidents in the
country, the Ministry of Public Security said earlier this
month.
(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2007)