Four of the six injured passengers from Monday's bus accident, which claimed 26 lives in southwestern Chongqing Municipality, are now out of danger - but the remaining two are still in a critical condition.

A 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman are under 24-hour observation but four others are now stable and have been moved from intensive care, said the head of a 19-member medical team setup by the municipal health department.

"Doctors have finished operating on the two that are seriously injured and the next 72 hours will be a life-or-death test," said the head doctor. "If they can get through the next three days, they have chances of survival."

According to the doctor, the man and woman are both suffering from skull and rib fractures and lung damage.

The accident happened around 8:10 AM on Monday when a bus carrying 32 passengers, seven more than its limit, ploughed through a guardrail of the Changsheng Bridge that spans a narrow gully.

It was traveling on a road that runs parallel to the Jialing River on its way from downtown Yubei District to Beibei, in the suburbs of Chongqing.

The bus plunged 13 meters killing 22 passengers on the spot.

Two others died on the way to the hospital. Eight people were rushed to hospital where six, including the bus driver, are being treated for serious injuries.

Most victims are residents from the two districts and police are still trying to establish their identities.

Local traffic police has blamed overloading and speeding as the main causes of the accident, while the unsafe guardrails which is only 10 centimeters high and the slippery road after overnight rain have also been attributed to the tragedy.

Statistics from the Chongqing municipal government show 253 people died in 202 road accidents in the first quarter of this year. Of the major accidents, 62.5 percent were caused by overloading, which was blamed for about 62 percent of the total fatalities.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2007)