REGIONAL> Society
Death toll in north China bus-motorbike crash rises to nine
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-03 17:29

A 46-year-old man injured in a bus-motorbike collision in north China on Sunday has died in hospital, bringing the accident death toll to nine.

The man, identified as Wu Feng, died during surgery at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday at Chifeng Hospital, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said hospital official Yu Lei.

No other details about Wu were available.

The accident happened at 4:10 p.m. Sunday when the bus, which was traveling to Baoding city, Hebei Province, and the motorbike collided on a highway in Harqin Banner, Chifeng City.

Both people on the motorbike and five people on the bus died.

One person who was seriously injured is in a stable condition in hospital and nine others with slight injuries are under medical observation.

A Chifeng public security bureau official said Ren Haijun, the bus driver, had been detained pending an investigation into the cause of the crash.

An initial investigation found the 34-seat bus was carrying 47 people at the time of the accident, the official said.