Sixteen people were killed in a coach fire Wednesday afternoon when the vehicle was being driven through Hengxian County in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The coach was carrying more than 40 passengers from southwestern Sichuan Province to Guangxi when it suddenly caught fire at the Hengxian County section of the expressway from Nanning, the regional capital to Wuzhou City in Guangxi. The cause of the fire is unknown. 

Medical personnel were quickly on the scene and injured passengers were taken to nearby a hospital. An investigation is underway.

(China.org.cn, Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2006)