27 dead, 20 injured in China after bus taking people to Covid-19 quarantine crashes
- Authorities say the vehicle was travelling from the Guizhou capital of Guiyang with ‘people affected by coronavirus controls’
- City has been busing contacts of cases to centres outside Guiyang
Police in the Sandu Shui autonomous county said the vehicle was travelling from Guiyang, Guizhou province, to Libo on the Sanli highway with 47 people on board. As of noon, 27 were dead.
Police offered no explanation for the crash.
Internet users said the bus was transporting contacts of Covid-positive patients from Guiyang, but the comments were soon censored.
Unconfirmed photos posted online showed everyone on the vehicle, including the driver, wearing white hazmat suits and goggles.
The official Guizhou Daily confirmed on Sunday night that the coach was transporting people “affected by Covid-19 outbreak controls”.
Guizhou Communist Party secretary Shen Yiqin and governor Li Bingjun ordered an investigation team to be established and severe punishment for those liable.
They also said lessons must be learned from the crash, Guizhou Daily reported.