A trail truck overturned early on Sunday in the city of Xiantao,
central China's Hubei
Province, killing four people and injuring two.
A police source said the tragedy occurred when an overloaded
truck was passing near a stone bridge on the Caitan-Huchang Highway
located on the city's outskirts.
The riverside road surface caved in and the truck
overturned.
Four stevedores on the truck were thrown off, buried under the
overturned cargo, and died on the spot. Two others were
injured.
According to local villagers, the road near the bridge is a
regular route for many heavy vehicles. This is why a big hole about
40 cm deep formed on the spot several days ago before the accident.
Local authorities used to fill and level the hole with gravel. They
didn't think it would cave in.
The truck driver has been detained and investigations into the
cause of the accident are underway.
In related news, another road accident in Wujiang City of east
China's province of Jiangsu
on Monday killed six people and injured six others.
Local police said a minibus ran into a truck on the No.227
Provincial Highway at about 5:00 AM Monday. Five male passengers
aboard the minibus died on the spot and a female passenger died
later in the hospital.
The injured have been hospitalized and the cause of the accident
is still under investigation, local police said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2005)