27 killed after bus overturns on expressway in Guizhou

A bus carrying 47 people turned on its side on an expressway in Guizhou province early Sunday morning, killing at least 27 people, police said.

The bus was traveling on a section of the expressway in Sandu Sui autonomous county when the accident occurred, according to the county's public security bureau.

It was carrying people from Guiyang, capital of Guizhou, to a quarantine site, according to a report by Guizhou Daily.

The other 20 passengers onboard are currently undergoing treatment, and rescue work at the scene had been completed by Sunday afternoon. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Guizhou's provincial, prefecture and county-level governments established an on-site command headquarters to carry out the rescue, provide medical treatment and investigate the cause of the accident, according to a statement from the provincial government.

Guizhou's top leaders, the province's Party Secretary Shen Yiqin and Governor Li Bingjun, traveled to the Qiannan Bouyei and Miao autonomous prefecture to oversee rescue work. They expressed their deep condolences to the victims and their families, and called on the working group to make saving people's lives their top priority and to organize medical teams to save the injured.

The leaders also asked the working group to pay close attention to comforting family members of the victims and to helping them to solve any issues they may encounter.

The investigation into the cause of the accident will also look into traffic and transport hazards.