KUNMING -- The death toll from a deadly May Day holiday road accident in southwest China's Yunnan Province has climbed to 16, according to the local government.

A light truck veered off the road following a collision with two other vehicles and ploughed into a crowd of people waiting for a bus at 8:00 am on Friday in Lincang. Fourteen people were killed on the spot and 45 injured. Two people died later at hospital and six more are on the hospital's critical list, the Lincang city government said in a news release on Saturday afternoon.

More than 60 villagers were standing by the highway, waiting for a bus that would take them to a market in the Yunxian county seat about 10 kilometers away.

Witnesses said they saw a heavy truck hit the light truck, which then crashed into a bus, veered off the road and hit the crowd.

"People went down like dominoes," said a villager who seemed more scared than injured. He couldn't remember how he got to the county hospital.

A two-and-a-half-year-old boy magically survived in his mother's arms but the mother died, said the father, surnamed Wu.

Police have detained Sun Xianjun, driver of the heavy truck.

The Ministry of Public Security has sent officials to the site to help with the investigation.