Twenty-six people were confirmed dead and 13 others injured in a bus accident Tuesday morning in the Aba Tibet and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to the local work safety bureau.

The bus, with a passenger capacity of 38, carried 39. It fell down a 170-meter-high cliff at the Yingxiu-Xiaojin section of State Highway 303 at 10:40 AM.

Twenty-three people were declared dead at the scene of the accident. Two of the 16 who were injured died en route to the hospital. One died after hospitalized.

The bus was traveling from Xiaojin County, Aba Prefecture, to Chengdu, the provincial capital.

The cause of the accident has not yet been determined.

The provincial government has set up an investigation team and compensation work has begun.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2005)