Bus and tanker inferno kills 36

A DOUBLE-DECKER bus crashed into a tanker loaded with highly flammable methanol on a northern Chinese road yesterday, causing both vehicles to burst into flames and killing 36 people, state media said.

The Xinhua News Agency said 39 people were on the long-distance sleeper bus when it crashed and only three survived.

The tanker had just returned to the road after a rest stop when it was apparently hit by the bus close to the city of Yan’an in Shaanxi province.

Road safety is a serious problem in China. According to Xinhua, poorly maintained roads and bad driving habits result in 70,000 deaths and 300,000
injuries a year.