Update31 killed as truck collision turns Chinese tunnel into fiery death trap

Investigators revealed a horrific story of a collision between two methanol tanker trucks that triggered an explosion inside a northern Chinese tunnel filled with trucks carrying coal and other flammable materials.

Investigators said today that leakage from the two crashed methanol tankers inside the tunnel in China's Shanxi province two weeks ago killed at least 31 people, with nine still missing, according to Xinhua.

Initial reports on March 1, when the accident happened, said six people were missing and 12 injured after a fire and explosion inside a highway tunnel near Jincheng, Shanxi province. 

State media had gradually updated the death toll in their coverage of the accident in the last two weeks, until it reached 16 on Wednesday. 

After one methanol tanker rear-ended another parked inside the tunnel during a traffic jam, the two drivers failed to alert police or vehicles nearby even though methanol was already leaking from the truck in the front.

Instead, they decided to disentangle the two trucks by having the one in the front pull forward, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted investigators as saying. 

The methanol then caught fire, and the two drivers fled the scene with the two security guards who were travelling with the trucks.