19 still hospitalized after E China bus crash

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-12 19:09

JINAN -- Nineteen people were still in hospital on Sunday after Saturday's bus crash that left five schoolchildren dead and 39 injured in east China's Shandong Province.

Two seriously injured people were "out of danger" Sunday, said a spokesman with the government of Yishui County.

The bus driver, who was also being treated, was under police surveillance, he said.

The 53-seat bus, carrying 49 people, plunged off a road into a 4-meter-deep ravine in Yishui at about 9:40 a.m. Saturday, when it was raining and the road was slippery.

Three students died at the scene and two others died in hospital.

Seven teachers and 38 schoolchildren aged 12 to 15 from the Lucheng No. 2 High School in Zibo City, central Shandong, were aboard the bus. The other four included a driver, a tourist guide, a student's mother, and a child.

The bus belongs to a travel agency owned by state-owned Shandong Communication and transportation Group.

Police are investigating the accident.