A driver was formally arrested Tuesday in Shanghai for his role in a road accident early this month that left five people dead, including four women from the Republic of Korea and a Chinese male driver inside the same taxi.

The car driven by the 25-year-old man surnamed Zhang hit the taxi when it was turning right on June 2 at a crossing, which forced the taxi into a head-on collision with a bus, the Procuratorate of Minhang District in Shanghai cited Zhang as saying.

The cab driver and two of his Korean passengers died at the scene of the taxi-bus collision, while the two others died in hospital. All the Korean passengers were middle-aged women who were family members of ROK employees in Shanghai.

Shanghai traffic police concluded after investigation that Zhang failed to control his speed and that the taxi had the right of way during the accident. He holds prime responsibility for the fatal accident.

Zhang was arrested for traffic violations. If he is convicted, he could face jail time.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2009)