German tourists treated in Hong Kong

Two of the German tourists injured in a road crash in North China that claimed six lives have been transferred to Hong Kong for further treatment, Beijing tourism authorities said.

Thomas Neucrer and Dorothea Hess were transferred to Hong Kong from Tianjin on Thursday. Another four German tourists are still receiving treatment in two hospitals in Beijing, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development said in a written statement on Friday night.

Among the injured German nationals is Bettina Johanna Deubel, who is being treated in Beijing's Jishuitan Hospital. Deubel's serious injuries will require her to undergo a craniotomy.

Six people, including five German nationals and a Chinese driver, were killed, and 14 others were injured when a bus rear-ended a container truck and caught fire on the expressway from Beijing to Tianjin, a city about 130 kilometers southeast of the capital, on Oct 1.

The coach, carrying 19 German passengers, ploughed into the back of the Henan province-registered truck at around 8:30 am.

A witness said the truck suddenly came to a halt on the highway and the bus rammed into it. Passengers had to smash the rear window to escape because the doors were jammed.

The coach trip was organized by China Youth Travel Service in Beijing.

The group of German tourists, who are doctors from the states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg, had arrived in Beijing on Monday morning and were traveling to Tianjin when the accident occurred.

The 12 Germans and two Chinese injured in the accident were rushed to the People's Hospital in the Wuqing district of Tianjin immediately after the accident.

German Ambassador Michael Schaefer and three staff members from the embassy visited the injured after the crash.

Traffic on the roads was heavy over the week as people traveled home to reunite with their families or traveled to tourist sites for the week-long National Day holiday.

China Daily contributed to this story