Three students were killed and two others injured as they walked along a highway in northwest China's Shaanxi Province when the driver of a truck fully loaded with coal mishandled his vehicle.

According to local police, the tragedy took place near the Baiyangdian section of National Highway No. 312 in Shangzhou around 6 AM on Tuesday. The coal truck, which belongs to Hongxing Automobile Transport of Yulin City, rammed a tractor after hitting the students. The tractor operator was seriously injured.

At press time, all the injured remained hospitalized.

The owner of the truck has surrendered to the local police, but the driver is missing. 

On Wednesday, police in central China's Henan Province confirmed that a minibus caught fire after an explosion on Monday, leaving five people dead and 23 others injured.
  
The accident occurred Monday afternoon in Minquan County, in the eastern part of the province. The bus, with 29 people onboard, appeared to be operating normally until suddenly smoke began emerging from its front portion.

The injured, six of whom were severely burned, were sent immediately to two local hospitals.

Police said that a preliminary investigation showed that the fuel tank of the minibus remained intact. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

The incident occurred less than a week after another bus explosion and fire in the east China city of Nanjing left 17 dead and five others injured. Preliminary investigations in that case led police to believe that fireworks or similar devices may have been stored near the driver's seat, exploding when a small fire started.

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn March 2, 2005)