China: Sleeper bus collides with tanker in Yan’an, killing 36
Police and rescuers remove the bodies from a burnt out double-decker sleeper bus after a collision with a tanker near Yan’an in northern China’s Shaanxi province on August 26, 2012. At least 36 people died in the fiery collision between a methanol tanker and a double-decker sleeper bus in China’s worst traffic accident in more than a year
At least 36 people are dead after a sleeper bus collided with a tanker loaded with methane in northern China's Shaanxi province.
The fiery crash happened in the city of Yan'an at around 2 am, when most passengers on the double-decker bus were asleep. Only three people on the bus survived, and all have been taken to hospital with injuries, China's official Xinhua news agency reported.
Local government officials told Xinhua that the driver and passenger of the tanker were not hurt, and have been taken into police custody.
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The crash took place on the Baotou-Maoming expressway, which links northern and southern China.
The bus is believed to have been traveling from Inner Mongolia to Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province.
China's roads are notoriously deadly. Last year more than 62,000 people died in traffic accidents, according to state media.
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