Three people died and 10 others were injured in a bus crash Thursday morning on an expressway in southwest China's Guizhou Province, police said.

A long-distance bus from Chongqing Municipality overturned near Zhazuo Toll Station on an expressway linking Guiyang and Zunyi at around 9 a.m., a spokesman with the provincial public security bureau said without giving details.

Police were forced to impose a temporary traffic ban on at least two lanes to pull out the victims and remove the wreckage of the bus.

The spokesman said the injured had been sent to hospital and the cause of the accident was still under investigation.

A cold snap since New Year's Day has left parts of Guizhou covered in ice. Though most expressways have reopened to traffic Thursday, police warn it remains risky to drive on the icy road as sleet continues and the temperature still lingers below freezing.