Bus Accident Kills 17 in North China

Seventeen people were killed and two more remain missing after a bus skidded off a road and plunged into the Yellow River in north China's Shanxi Province on Friday, according to latest reports.

The accident occurred near Chaijiawan Village at about 9 a.m., when a bus heading for Baode County town suddenly slid off the road and fell into the river 18 meters below.

One person sustained serious injuries and another 11 had slight wounds, reports said.

The driver has been identified as Liu Baoping, who, knowing his bus was in danger, fled the bus and run away. He turned himself in to police early Saturday morning.

According local authorities, rescue efforts were hampered because of heavy currents in the river caused by rainstorms.

By Friday evening, 17 bodies, eight men and nine women, had been found. Authorities were still looking for the two persons missing by press time.

The cause of the accident remains under investigation.



People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/