A total of 23 people were killed and 28 others injured in two road accidents in the northern province of Hebei and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the northwest on Monday, China Daily reported today.

At least 17 were killed and three others injured when two trucks and a bus crashed at 5:20 PM near Wangdu County in Hebei on a section of the Beijing-Shijiazhuang Expressway.

The accident occurred when one truck from Chengde, Hebei, collided head-on with the bus after another truck from Huludao in northeast China's Liaoning Province hit its rear.

Fifteen people on the bus and two drivers on the truck from Chengde were killed at the scene, according to the local public security bureau. The accident is still under investigation.

In the Ningxia accident, six people were confirmed dead and 25 others injured when a bus fell into a roadside ditch.

The bus was heading to Shagou Township from Xiji County with 34 passengers on board. It reportedly swerved out of control and fell into a 13-meter-deep ditch at 4:30 PM, killing three passengers on the spot. Another three died later in hospital.

The driver, named Ma, cited brake failure as the reason for the accident. "I couldn't stop the vehicle, so I tried the break," he said. "But it veered off the road all the same."

Wu Heping, Ministry of Public Security spokesperson, said yesterday that December and January usually witness more accidents than usual because of increased numbers of travelers.

He also said there had been fewer accidents so far this month than the same time last year.

"In the first half of December, 2,468 people had been killed in 2,207 road accidents, down 25.6 and 26.1 percent respectively year-on-year," he told a press conference in Beijing.

Speeding, overloading and illegal operation of vehicles were listed as the three major causes of accidents, according to the ministry. About 86.6 percent of the 45 major road accidents that took place so far this year involved vehicles overloaded with passengers or cargo.

(China Daily December 21, 2005)