12 killed in south China road accident

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-22 22:22

QINZHOU -- Twelve people were killed after a bus overturned on a highway in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region early Sunday morning, according to the police source.

The bus was en route from Duyun City, Guizhou Province to Dongguan in Guangdong Province, when it overturned on the Nanning-Beihai Expressway near Qinzhou City, Guangxi.

The bus with a capacity of 49 passengers carried 51 people, including two children, a Qinzhou municipal traffic police department official said.

"I felt the bus shaken drastically and overturned. I was greatly shocked, with one hand clinching the seat and one hand holding my son," said Huang Gaofu, at the Qinzhou No. 1 People's Hospital.

"I threw my son outside the window after the bus stopped rolling. Rescuers came 10 minutes later," he said.

Huang suffered a minor injury on his head. His five-year-old son and wife were receiving treatment in the hospital.

Police found 12 bodies when they arrived at the scene. The injured, including the driver, have been rushed to a hospital in Qinzhou.

The windshield of the bus was smashed and the top of the bus was deformed, a Xinhua reporter saw at the scene Sunday afternoon.

The bus driver had been detained by police.

An initial investigation found the bus driver abruptly turned the wheel to dodge falling wheat bran from a truck, which caused the accident.