Three critically injured students died in hospital early on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in east China's Jiangsu province's school bus accident to 15.

At least eight other children are still in hospital. The bus carrying 29 students had crashed into a roadside ditch on Monday afternoon, when the driver tried to swerve past a pedicab in a rural area of Fengxian County.

A primary school bus overturned and fell into a ditch Monday afternoon in east China's Jiangsu Province, which had 47 students on board. At least 15 students were killed and eight others injured.[Photo/Chinanews.com]

This was the third serious school bus accident in China in just under a month. It happened only a day after the State Council moved to strengthen school bus safety regulations, in response to a deadly crash which killed 19 students in northwest China's Gansu province a month ago.