Rescuers have pulled out two more bodies from a river, bringing the death toll of Thursday's traffic accident in southwest China's Sichuan Province to 11, local work safety administration said on Saturday.

 

The accident occurred around 1:30 AM Thursday morning in Gonggashan Township of Kangding County, capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze, when a van carrying 31 people plunged into a river.

 

The passengers were all migrant workers of Hede tungsten and stannum mine. Ten people survived, including the six injured. Ten other people are still missing.

 

Investigation shows a sudden mud-rock slide hit the rear of the van and pushed it down the cliff, but officials with the administration said the driver should not have been driving at the time, because "the situation of the road was terrible."

 

Continuous rainfalls had caused the road to cave in and curbstones to fall apart at some sections of the road. The road, which was three meters wide, had been reduced to less than two meters wide when the accident happened.

 

Police have detained Liao Yongzhi, the driver, who was suspected of carrying people illegally with a cargo van.

 

About 200 police and local residents are searching for the 10 missing passengers at some 40 kilometers downstream from the spot where the accident happened.

 

The mountainous Sichuan Province saw a yearly average of 150 traffic accidents with death toll of each above three.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2007)