23 dead in Guizhou bus plunge
Twenty-three people were killed when a bus plunged 30 metres into a river from a major highway in Guizhou early yesterday morning.
The bus, with about 50 passengers on board, was travelling southeast from Zhongshan in Guangdong to Luzhou in Guizhou when it crashed off the four-lane Guixin Highway at 6.30am, Xinhua said.
Another 17 passengers were being treated for serious to minor injuries at the Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical College, an emergency ward employee said.
The eight men and nine women injured are all aged between 20 and 40, the employee said.
The bus rammed into 60 metres of barricades before plunging into the narrow river about 12km outside Guiyang city.
Many passengers drowned because the bus overturned in the water, making escape and rescue difficult, Xinhua said.
The report did not mention the condition of the bus driver.
A spokeswoman with the Immigration Department in Hong Kong said it was not known if any Hong Kong residents were involved.
