Seventeen people died and 38 others were injured in a bus accident Saturday morning in Enshi City, Hubei Province, according to local police.

At around 4:00 Saturday morning, a bus carrying 55 passengers, including 18 school children below the age of 15, from Chongqing, southwest China, to Shenzhen City in south China, turned over and rolled down a 120-meter-deep valley by State Highway No. 318.

Sixteen people, including a primary school student, died on the spot and the 38 others were injured, said Zhang Xiaobin, head of the city traffic control brigade.

One of the injured died on the way to hospital one hour later, eight other seriously injured are still in critical condition, and the remaining 38 are out of danger, Zhang said.

According to survivors, most of the teenager passengers were summer vacation takers and were going to Shenzhen to visit their parents serving as migrant workers in the city.

The cause of the accident is being investigated.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 16, 2005)