A truck carrying eight tons of flammable insecticide and a bus full of passengers collided in central China's Hunan Province late Thursday night, killing at least 20 people and injuring 27 others.
Witnesses said that both the truck and bus crashed down into a roadside river after the collision with the truck landing on top of the bus.
The explosion caused by the flammable insecticide was also heard around midnight and informed patrol police quickly rushed to the site of accident to organize rescue operations, said the witnesses.
Among the dead was the bus driver, but the two truck drivers, who were just slightly hurt, managed to crawl out of the vehicle. All the injured people are now being treated at local hospitals, said local sources.
The truck, from north China's Hebei Province, and the bus, belonging to Shangcai County of central China's Henan Province, were both traveling north on national highway 107 near Shilun Village, Hongshua Township of Miluo City, when the accident happened.
National highway 107, which was closed for some time after the accident, was reopened early Friday morning.
(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2002)
