Twenty-one people have been killed and 83 others injured in
three separate traffic accidents since the Spring Festival travel
season began on Feb. 3, said China's communication authorities
which urged transportation companies to think of safety first on
Friday.
A bus carrying 41 passengers from Guangdong Province to Guizhou
Province collided with another bus with 48 people aboard on a
highway in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on the morning of Feb.
3.
The collision left 13 people dead and injured 75 others.
Police said the bus heading for Guizhou Province violated
traffic rules and was to blame for the accident.
On Feb. 6, a mini-bus with two passengers ran into a crowd of
people at an outdoor market in Linmushan Village of Shitun Town,
Guizhou Province. Five people were killed and three others were
hospitalized.
The cause of the accident is still being investigated.
The third road accident, which claimed three lives and sent five
others to hospital, occurred on Feb. 5 when a bus with eight people
aboard overturned in Yunnan Province, southwest China.
The cause of the the accident was not disclosed.
The Ministry of Communications has called on communication
authorities at various levels to ensure that all travelers get home
safely.
The ministry urged local authorities to supervise safety
measures at bus stops and ban passengers from carrying dangerous
goods. Local authorities are also required to stop unsafe buses and
overloaded buses.
Local communication authorities have been checking
transportation enterprises and their employees and educating
drivers.
More than 700,000 buses are transporting a day more than 50
million people who are heading home for Spring Festival, according
to the Ministry of Communications.
A total of 2.17 billion passengers will travel during the Spring
Festival season in 2007, up 4.9 percent from last year's holiday
season.
The National Development and Reform Commission said a record 155
million passengers will travel by train, up 4.3 percent, during the
40-day travel peak that began on Feb. 3 and will end on March
14.
Meanwhile, 1.97 billion will travel by road, up 5 percent, 28.41
million will travel by water, up 2 percent, and 19.3 million will
travel by air, up 9.4 percent.
The NDRC has called for better maintenance of important bridges,
tunnels, highways and vehicles.
It also required transportation departments to add more trains
and aircraft.
Spring Festival, or the Chinese lunar new year, falls on Feb. 18
this year.
(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)