Eighteen people were killed and 52 others injured in two separate road accidents in southwest China's Sichuan Province and northwest China's Gansu Province at the weekend.
Five vehicles collided on National Highway 312 as the brakes of two of them went out of control on Saturday morning in Gansu's Jingchuan County. Local sources said 14 people were killed and 50 injured.
A long-distance coach on its way from central China's Henan Province to northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region collided with three trucks when going down a slope, causing 10 deaths.
Shortly after, while rescue workers were giving emergency treatment to the victims at the scene, another truck from northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region ran into the coach due to brake failure. A rescue worker moving the bodies was killed at the scene together with the driver and two passengers on the truck, said an official with the Jingchuan County traffic police brigade.
The injured, most of whom were only slightly hurt, were taken to the county's People's Hospital for medical treatment.
On Friday, four people -- including two children -- were killed in an accident on the Chengdu-Ya'an motorway in Sichuan.
Two people were injured but were yesterday out of danger after emergency treatment at a hospital in Ya'an. A truck collided with a jeep by a fuel tank. The collision ignited the fuel and the two vehicles then burst into flames.
Only the frame of the jeep was left after the accident while the front of the truck was burned away. The head of the motorway's traffic police brigade said the cause of the accident had not been officially decided but an investigation would be concluded within 20 days.
Police detained the truck driver for further enquiries.
(China Daily August 26, 2002)
