2 dead, 3 injured as Beijing bus carrying preschoolers crashes

2 dead, 3 injured as Beijing bus carrying preschoolers crashes

• Source: Global Times
• [09:13 March 15 2011]
• Comments

Two people, including a child, died and three children were injured after a bus carrying 76 preschoolers and adults crashed into a road works site in the suburbs of Beijing Monday morning, police said.

The accident happened at 9:25 am at a crossing on East Lianshi Road in Mentougou district, which is on the western outskirts of Beijing, a spokesman with the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau said.

The bus driver, You Yi, had jerked the steering wheel to the right to avoid hitting another vehicle, the spokesman said, quoting the 33-year-old driver.

"But the bus crashed into an enclosure on the right side of the road and a steel bar stuck in, causing deaths and injuries," he said.

The spokesman said a member of the kindergarten staff sitting in the front passenger seat was killed at the scene and a child died later in hospital.

Three other children suffered slight injuries.

The bus, with 49 seats, was carrying 76 children and five adults.

The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Xinhua