Brake failure on a heavy-duty truck is being blamed for causing 16 deaths in the deadliest May Day holiday road accident in southwest China's Yunnan Province, said local sources.

 

After being hit in the back by a heavy-duty lorry, a light truck veered into the path of oncoming bus and then ploughed into a crowd of people waiting for another bus at 8:30 AM on Friday in Lincang, a city in Yunnan.

 

Fourteen people died on the spot and 45 were injured. Two of the injured died later in hospital where six of the injured are in critical conditions, said sources from the Lincang city government.

 

More than 60 villagers were standing by the highway, waiting for a bus to take them to a market in the Yunxian county seat about 10 kilometers away.

 

One witness said he was riding a motorbike nearby when the accident took place. "I saw from distance that the lorry was running downhill after emerging from a tunnel, it was shaking though not going very fast," recalled the motorcyclist, "I suspect something went wrong with the brake."

 

"It's not very steep but its a long slope and heavy trucks can often lose their brakes," said a shop owner.

 

Among the dead was the driver of the light truck.

 

Police have detained Sun Xianjun, driver of the Steyr heavy-duty lorry who was unhurt in the accident.

 

Sun, a native of Chongqing Municipality in southwest China, was hauling a dozen tons of water melon on his lorry from a nearby township of Mengding.

 

Also aboard his lorry were members of his family and that of his employer. They were all unhurt in the accident.

 

The Ministry of Public Security has sent officials to the site to help with the investigation.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 7, 2007)