6 officials punished for coach overloading

CHANGSHA - Six officials in Taoyuan county of Central China's Hunan province have been given disciplinary demerits after a coach with 39 seats carrying 111 passengers were discovered, local authorities said Friday.

The coach, heading to Jiangmen city in the neighboring Guangdong province, carried 111 people including 22 students and children on July 4. It exceeded 185 percent of its capacity, according to a statement issued by the provincial safety production commission office.

Six officials in the county traffic police department and traffic bureau were given administrative demerits or serious warning according to the disciplinary rules of the Communist Party of China, the statement said.

Kang Lihui, the driver of the coach, were deprived of his driver's license and was banned from engaging in the transportation business for lifetime.

Kang was also fined 2,000 yuan ($316).

A string of fatal road accidents that involved overloading have happened in recent years in China.

In one of the most serious cases, 22 people, including 20 preschoolers and two adults, died when the school bus, a nine-seat van that was illegally converted to fit 64 people, crashed head-on with a coal truck in November. Another 42 children were injured.