Death toll rises to 19 from China bus-truck crash

Photo taken on April 25, 2009 shows the
scene of an accident on the Kunchu Expressway in Chuxiong Prefecture,
southwest China's Yunnan Province. A tourist bus collided with a truck
carrying watermelon on the expressway in Chuxiong Prefecture early
Saturday, leaving 18 people dead and 22 others injured. (Xinhua/Chen
Haining)
Photo
Gallery

KUNMING, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The death toll has risen to 19 from a traffic
collision in southwest China's Yunnan Province after an injured person died in
hospital, local authorities said Saturday.

Currently, 21 injured people are being treated in hospital, of whom three
are in critical condition, said a spokesman for the government of the Yi
Autonomous Prefecture of Chuxiong.

A truck that carried watermelon bumped into the back of a domestic tourist
bus on an expressway in Chuxiong at about 6:40 a.m., and both fell off the road.
The bus fell 100 meters, while the truck fell 60 meters.

An initial investigation found the collision happened when the bus slowed
down for warning signs set up where another truck hit the median barrier
earlier.

Photo taken on April 25, 2009 shows the
scene of an accident on the Kunchu Expressway in Chuxiong Prefecture,
southwest China's Yunnan Province. A tourist bus collided with a truck
carrying watermelon on the expressway in Chuxiong Prefecture early
Saturday, leaving 18 people dead and 22 others injured. (Xinhua/Chen
Haining)
Photo
Gallery

Fourteen people on the bus and two on the truck were killed instantly and
two more bus passengers died en route to hospital.

Nineteen people from the bus and three from the truck were injured and
hospitalized, but one of them died later in hospital.

The accident led to a traffic congestion on the expressway that links
Kunming and Chuxiong. The traffic returned to normal late afternoon.

The bus tourists were mainly from Beijing, Shanxi and Hunan provinces, a
traffic police officer told Xinhua.

Local authorities are further investigating the accident.

Photo taken on April 25, 2009 shows the
scene of an accident on the Kunchu Expressway in Chuxiong Prefecture,
southwest China's Yunnan Province. A tourist bus collided with a truck
carrying watermelon on the expressway in Chuxiong Prefecture early
Saturday, leaving 18 people dead and 22 others injured. (Xinhua/Chen
Haining)
Photo
Gallery