Twenty-four people were confirmed dead with 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 administration.

At 10:40 AM Tuesday, a bus, which was able to accommodate 38 people, fell down from a 170-meter-high cliff at the Yingxiu-Xiaojin section of the State Highway 303, while carrying 37 people from Xiaojin County of the Aba prefecture to Chengdu, the provincial capital. The accident killed 22 people immediately and injured another 15 people. Two of the wounded died later en route to hospital. The remaining 13 injured have been sent to hospitals in nearby areas, the local work safety administration said.

Cause of the accident is being investigated.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2005)