Death toll rises to 25 in Xinjiang bus accident

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-13 14:10

URUMQI - Authorities in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region confirmed 25 people were killed in a highway accident on Tuesday.

Five others injured in the accident were hospitalized, said a source from the autonomous regional emergency response office.

The coach with 30 people aboard, mostly students and their parents, left Akqi County and was heading for Artux City on regional highway 306. Both Akqi and Artux are inside Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, western Xinjiang.

The students were on a health check-up trip after having passed high school entrance examinations in the developed eastern areas.

When the coach reached a mountainous section of the highway about 299 km away from Akqi, it suddenly lost control and hit the mountain before flipping on its side at 3:49 p.m., killing 17 people instantly. Eight others died either on the way to the hospital or during surgery, said the source, quoting a preliminary investigation by police in Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture.

The dead included 15 males and 10 females.

As the accident took place in a remote area, communication is difficult.

Leaders of the local authorities went to the scene to guide the rescue effort.

The county seat of Akqi, located in the western part of Xinjiang, is about 1,180 km away from the regional capital Urumqi.