19 killed in south China road accident

Nineteen people died and 30 were injured, when a coach overturned on an expressway Thursday afternoon in south China’s Guangdong Province.

The accident occurred around 1 p.m. on an expressway section in Huizhou, according to city authorities. There were 49 people on the 55-seater bus when the accident happened.

Ma Xiqin, a passenger on the bus, sustained multiple injuries from shattered glass. She was travelling home with her mother-in-law on the double-decker after an operation.

“I had just returned to my seat, when suddenly the bus veered onto the roadside,” recalled Ma, 35. “I tried to pull myself and my mother-in-law out, and I heard many people crying for help.”

It was raining heavily, Ma said, and she and her mother-in-law crawled under the expressway to wait for rescuers.

Of the injured, 24 are being treated in a local hospital in Longmen.

“Six of them were seriously injured,” said hospital director Chen Guoqiang.

Traffic on the expressway section has resumed, and an investigation is underway.