A trail truck overturned early on Sunday in the city of Xiantao, central China's Hubei Province, killing four people and injuring two.

A police source said the tragedy occurred when an overloaded truck was passing near a stone bridge on the Caitan-Huchang Highway located on the city's outskirts.

The riverside road surface caved in and the truck overturned.

Four stevedores on the truck were thrown off, buried under the overturned cargo, and died on the spot. Two others were injured.

According to local villagers, the road near the bridge is a regular route for many heavy vehicles. This is why a big hole about 40 cm deep formed on the spot several days ago before the accident. Local authorities used to fill and level the hole with gravel. They didn't think it would cave in.

The truck driver has been detained and investigations into the cause of the accident are underway.

In related news, another road accident in Wujiang City of east China's province of Jiangsu on Monday killed six people and injured six others.

Local police said a minibus ran into a truck on the No.227 Provincial Highway at about 5:00 AM Monday. Five male passengers aboard the minibus died on the spot and a female passenger died later in the hospital.

The injured have been hospitalized and the cause of the accident is still under investigation, local police said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2005)