Six dead and four missing after sinkhole swallows bus in western China
- Boy pushes child from danger before falling into hole, reports say
- Authorities try to establish the identities of those killed when a section of busy road collapsed
Six people died and four are missing after a bus plunged into a sinkhole on a busy road in northwestern China on Monday afternoon.
The road collapsed at about 5.30pm as passengers prepared to board the bus outside Changcheng Hospital in Xining, Qinghai province, according to the city government.
Footage of the incident circulating online indicated that the collapse was followed by an explosion and heavy smoke from inside the hole. It was not clear how many people were on the bus.
Sixteen people injured in the incident were in a stable condition in hospital.
Among the injured was a boy who pushed a child out of danger before going to the aid of others and then falling into the hole, Shanghai-based news service Thepaper.cn quoted a municipal employee as saying.