Society

At least 32 killed in expressway accident in NE China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-23 11:02

A crane is used to lift a burnt coach at the site where a coach-truck collision killed at least 32 people at an expressway section in Fuxin City, northeast China's Liaoning province, May 23, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

SHENYANG - At least 32 people were killed in a coach-truck collision early Sunday morning at an expressway section in Fuxin city, northeast China's Liaoning province, local authorities said.

A spokesman with the Liaoning Public Security Bureau said the truck with a license registered in northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region went in a wrong direction after driving out a service area along the expressway. It collided with the coach head-on, and the collision ignited fire.

Three people on the truck and 28 passengers on the bus were killed on the spot. One of the 22 injured died in hospital, he said.

So far, all of the 21 injured in the accident have attended hospital.

The coach is registered in northern Tianjin municipality. It was en route from Tianjin to Harbin, capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province, when the accident happened at 3:00 a.m.

The four-lane expressway linking Tieling and Chaoyang cities in Liaoning was undergoing a road maintenance in the section, where the accident happened, according to the local transport authority.

The expressway traffic has resumed after being shortly interrupted by the accident.

Chen Zhenggao, governor of Liaoning, is on the way to the accident site to oversee the rescue work.