Rescuers have pulled out two more bodies from a river, bringing
the death toll of Thursday's traffic accident in southwest China's
Sichuan Province to 11, local work safety
administration said on Saturday.
The accident occurred around 1:30 AM Thursday morning in
Gonggashan Township of Kangding County, capital of the Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture of Garze, when a van carrying 31 people
plunged into a river.
The passengers were all migrant workers of Hede tungsten and
stannum mine. Ten people survived, including the six injured. Ten
other people are still missing.
Investigation shows a sudden mud-rock slide hit the rear of the
van and pushed it down the cliff, but officials with the
administration said the driver should not have been driving at the
time, because "the situation of the road was terrible."
Continuous rainfalls had caused the road to cave in and
curbstones to fall apart at some sections of the road. The road,
which was three meters wide, had been reduced to less than two
meters wide when the accident happened.
Police have detained Liao Yongzhi, the driver, who was suspected
of carrying people illegally with a cargo van.
About 200 police and local residents are searching for the 10
missing passengers at some 40 kilometers downstream from the spot
where the accident happened.
The mountainous Sichuan Province saw a yearly average of 150
traffic accidents with death toll of each above three.
(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2007)