Bus crash in central China: 12 killed, 32 injured

Bus crash in central China: 12 killed, 32 injured

Passenger bus overturned on a steep central China roadway and plunged into a ravine, killing at least 12 people and injuring 32, the government's Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

Among the casualties in the accident Tuesday morning outside Shaoyang city, nine were killed on the spot and three others died after rescue efforts failed, Xinhua said.

All the injured were hospitalized, and five were in critical condition, the report said.

Xinhua said it still wasn't known how many people were aboard the bus when it swerved off the cliff-side roadway into the 20-meter-deep (60-feet-deep)ravine in Hunan province, 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) of Beijing, reports the AP.

I.L.