At least 29 people were killed on an expressway in east China's
Jiangxi
Province when a truck, apparently carrying fireworks and
gunpowder, exploded early Thursday morning, local police said.
The accident occurred at about 4:00 AM near the city of
Shangrao, when a Zhejiang-bound truck exploded, destroying a nearby
long-distance bus. The double-decker bus, carrying more than two
dozen passengers, was bound for eastern Zhejiang
Province from Shenzhen, in southern Guangdong Province.
The blast, which could be heard as far as two kilometers away,
damaged six houses and injured some local people.
Seven of the injured have been hospitalized. Two of them are
drivers of other vehicles near the scene of the explosion and five
are residents of the nearby village.
Police were unable to give an exact death toll yet, saying that
the force of the blast had dismembered some of the victims.
Twenty-nine bodies have been recovered so far.
This is China's fourth fatal bus explosion and fire in as many
weeks, leaving dozens killed or injured. There have been no
indications of that any of the blasts were deliberately caused.
(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn March 17, 2005)