A total of 23 people were killed and 28 others
injured in two road accidents in the northern province of Hebei
and Ningxia
Hui Autonomous Region in the northwest on Monday, China
Daily reported today.
At least 17 were killed and three others injured
when two trucks and a bus crashed at 5:20 PM near Wangdu
County in Hebei on a section of the Beijing-Shijiazhuang
Expressway.
The accident occurred when one truck from Chengde,
Hebei, collided head-on with the bus after another truck from
Huludao in northeast China's Liaoning
Province hit its rear.
Fifteen people on the bus and two drivers on the
truck from Chengde were killed at the scene, according to the local
public security bureau. The accident is still under
investigation.
In the Ningxia accident, six people were confirmed
dead and 25 others injured when a bus fell into a roadside
ditch.
The bus was heading to Shagou Township from Xiji
County with 34 passengers on board. It reportedly swerved out of
control and fell into a 13-meter-deep ditch at 4:30 PM,
killing three passengers on the spot. Another three died later in
hospital.
The driver, named Ma, cited brake failure as the
reason for the accident. "I couldn't stop the vehicle, so I tried
the break," he said. "But it veered off the road all the same."
Wu Heping, Ministry of Public Security
spokesperson, said yesterday that December and January usually
witness more accidents than usual because of increased numbers of
travelers.
He also said there had been fewer accidents so far
this month than the same time last year.
"In the first half of December, 2,468 people had
been killed in 2,207 road accidents, down 25.6 and 26.1 percent
respectively year-on-year," he told a press conference in
Beijing.
Speeding, overloading and illegal operation of
vehicles were listed as the three major causes of accidents,
according to the ministry. About 86.6 percent of the 45 major road
accidents that took place so far this year involved vehicles
overloaded with passengers or cargo.
(China Daily December 21, 2005)